aaus-list @ ukrainianstudies.org -- [aaus-list] NEUTRALITY OUT?

[Taras Kuzio <t.kuzio@utoronto.ca>]

UKRAINIAN LAWMAKER PROPOSES TO AMEND NEUTRALITY POLICY TO COMPLY WITH NATO
Associated Press, 05 Sep 02
  
KIEV, Ukraine - An opposition lawmaker proposed amending Ukraine's policy of
military neutrality in a step to bolster the former Soviet republic's bid to
join NATO, the parliamentary press service said Thursday.
Viacheslav Kyrylenko, of the reformist Our Ukraine faction, said the
nine-year-old policy contradicts the nation's ambitions to join NATO.
   
It is the first move by parliament to bring Ukrainian law in compliance with
NATO requirements since the government declared in May that Ukraine aspires
to NATO membership. No date for debate of the proposal has been set.
Since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine has laid down its
nuclear weapons, participated in numerous military exercises under NATO's
Partnership for Peace program and begun converting former military
facilities to civilian use.
Ukraine declared its intention to seek membership in the alliance soon after
its huge northern neighbor and key trade partner Russia - which had long
protested NATO expansion - signed an agreement bringing it closer to the
alliance.