BRUSSELS — As Ukraine’s head of mission to NATO, Yehor Bozhok has a front-row seat into what the military alliance is thinking about Russia and Ukraine.
He likes what he sees and hears. He sees no chance that the West will sell out Ukraine. He also sees no chance that Ukraine will sell out itself, meaning surrender the Donbas – where Russia’s war has claimed 10,000 lives since 2014 – or give up its claim to Russian-occupied Crimea.
Compromising on Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty “is a no-go for us. This is a no-go for our NATO partners,” Bozhok told the Kyiv Post in a Feb. 15 interview in NATO headquarters on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO defense ministers. “If we all agree or accept what Russia did, the Pandora’s box will be open. The cost of tackling Russian aggression in the future will be much higher. Russia has to go out of Ukraine. That is the red line. This is something all allies here unanimously support.”
Bozhok said he’s also confident that most Ukrainians want to eventually join NATO, despite public opinion polls that show the nation is divided. He also is satisfied that Ukraine is making good progress in becoming ready to join NATO by 2020
“We are focused on practical cooperation with two aims: firstly, strengthening of Ukraine’s defense capabilities and ability to defend itself, secondly, reform — to ensure that the defense and security sector of Ukraine becomes fully inter-operable with NATO standards – the best in the world.”
But the process of introducing transparency and competition to the defense sector, as well as weaning Ukraine’s military away from Soviet-era weapons, will take years, Bozhok acknowledged. “The machinery at NATO and back home take time to work,” Bozhok said. “But the dynamics of practical cooperation are growing. Progress is happening.”
Since Russia launched its war against Ukraine, Kyiv’s political leaders have pledged to spend 5 percent of gross domestic product each year on the military. That amounts to $5 billion out of an estimated $100 billion GDP in 2016, from a defense budget that amounted to very little by the time Kremlin-backed President Viktor Yanukovych fled power on Feb. 22, 2014, partially triggering Russia’s war.
Spending the money wisely and without corruption is another matter.
Bozhok said that NATO officials have not voiced any complaints about defense-sector corruption in Ukraine, but he admits that problems exist, given Ukraine’s current circumstances. “So far we haven’t received any criticism from NATO regarding our defense/industrial sector,” she said.
To the contrary,the NATO-Ukraine Commission met in Brussels a week ago for a discussion “dedicated to fighting corruption in the defense sector.” Ukrainian representatives from the National Agency for Prevention of Corruptions, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, the General Prosecutor’s Office and the National Security and Defense Council’s Mykhailo Koval attended.
“The discussion went deeper than we expected,” Bozhok said “The progress was recognized. The encouragement to achieve further results was there. At the same time, it was understood that it is difficult to achieve quick progress, if we strictly follow the rule of law.”
Ukraine’s criminal justice system is still not functioning properly, he noted.
“Everybody may know the person is corrupt, but it’s necessary to collect the evidence, execute the trial, get a ruling of the court,” he said. “Now it takes time. Ukraine’s still in process of reforming our judiciary system.”
Overhauling Ukraine’s defense sector, including procurement practices to ensure transparency and competition, is even more difficult amid war.
“All transparency we try to provide is unfortunately used by our enemies,” he said. “It’s important to keep a proper balance between transparency and national security. For the moment, it’s dangerous to implement NATO standards for transparency in procurement.”
As for profiteering from war on secret, no-bid government contracts, Bozhok acknowledged the possibility, but said procurement decisions in Ukraine are made among a number of agencies and people. “all the decisions are collective,” he said.
But profiteering is “the history” of war, he said. “Can you name me one single war when somebody didn’t want to make money on this?” he asked. “This is not the Ukrainian phenomenon. It’s global. How to fight it? Learn the best practices of Western countries.”
As Ukraine retools its defense as it fights off Russia’s war, Bozhok said the nation and Georgia also want to play a role in helping NATO allies with bolstering collective military capabilities to provide security in the Black Sea.
Bozhok, noting the defeat of the Russian-backed offensive last month against the Ukrainian-controlled Donetsk Oblast city of Avdiyivka, said the attacks show that “Russia, unfortunately, will continue attempts to destabilize the Donbas” wit the ultimate goal to “bring Ukraine back to the Russian orbit.”
Besides trying to discredit Ukraine “as a failed state,” Russia’s special services “are very active in Ukraine first, in Europe second and in the United States third,” he said. Ukraine just happens to face the brunt of all three Russian weapons – military, propaganda and special services.
But he is convinced the West “will not allow Moscow to fool them” and the Kremlin’s attempts to undermine democracy and international rule of law will ultimately fail.
