MOSCOW, November 27 (RIA Novosti)
NATO searches for way to accelerate Ukraine and Georgia's accession/ Ukraine to redeploy its troops to Russian borders/EU not ready for expansion to post-Soviet countries/Russia tests new intercontinental ballistic missile
Kommersant
NATO searches for way to accelerate Ukraine and Georgia's accession
Georgia and Ukraine yesterday discussed the latest statements by U.S. officials who said the NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) was not necessary to gain accession to the alliance.
However, Washington has not disclosed the meaning of the phrase "other instruments" that could be used to become a bloc member.
The newspaper's source at the NATO headquarters said: "The MAP is not the main principle of joining NATO. It is only an instrument helping aspirants to prepare for accession. The fundamental principle is the country's desire to become a NATO member and its compliance with the alliance's main requirements."
A source in Brussels said serious discussions on the issue were underway among NATO members.
NATO spokesman James Appathurai said: "The allies are discussing, literally right now, how to take forward NATO's relationship with these two countries."
Western media reported that the Bush administration is pushing for the two countries' admission to NATO before Barack Obama assumes office.
Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's envoy to NATO, said the U.S. efforts were designed "to complicate the advance of the Obama administration."
He hopes the NATO foreign ministers, who are to meet in Brussels on December 2-3, "will take a decision in the interests of their countries and European security despite the appeals of [Condoleezza] Rice."
Georgia and Ukraine do not expect the meeting to reach a breakthrough decision.
Koba Liklikadze, a Georgian military expert, said: "The idea that the MAP is not crucial for accession was voiced not long ago. Everyone says the U.S. is lobbying for the possibility. But it also lobbied for including Ukraine and Georgia into the MAP at the Bucharest summit in April, yet failed to ensure a consensus on the issue."
Ukrainian analysts recall that the Bucharest summit decided Ukraine must comply with two requirements to be included in the MAP, i.e., ensure public support for NATO accession and unity of the country's political elite.
"Unfortunately, the problem remains," Ilko Kucheriv, a member of the expert council at the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, said.
Izvestia, Gazeta.ru
Ukraine to redeploy its troops to Russian borders
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has made two key decisions - to allow the movement of NATO troops across Ukrainian territory and to redeploy its troops to Ukraine's eastern borders, along which he had dug a ditch to a depth of 1.5 meters.
Defense Minister Yuri Yekhanurov explained the steps following the August conflict in South Ossetia and said plans for troop movement could be ready by the weekend.
Analysts believe the idea will remain on paper.
Ukrainian opposition deputies told Izvestia that Yushchenko is laying a trap for himself by provoking Moscow at a time when no price has been agreed for Russian gas to Ukraine.
The main reason why analysts doubt the president's plans are that Ukraine lacks the finances for such a massive redeployment.
The Ukrainian Russian-language newspaper Delo says that armed forces budget for next year will be cut from 17 billion hryvnas to 12 billion to 15 billion hryvnas, with inflation factored out.
"The money is not and will not be available. It will be good if they have enough to pay the miners, teachers and service personnel," Vladimir Kornilov, director of the Ukrainian branch of the Institute of the CIS Countries, told Gazeta.ru.
In addition, the analyst said a decision to station military units is the prerogative of local administration. "Local councils in the eastern regions are unlikely to harbor anti-Russian attitudes," he added.
The actual redeployment began last year when missile systems were moved from southwestern to eastern regions. However, regardless of whether or not these plans get off the ground, the topic will still feature in public statements. "President Yushchenko has opted for anti-Russian rhetoric for his election campaign, because it would have been strange to expect anything else from him," Kornilov said.
"This is more a demonstration of readiness for the benefit of the West and it is too early to talk about any real redeployment," said Vitaly Tsymbal, a military analyst with the Institute of the Economy in Transition.
He believes grandiose public statements by Ukrainian politicians are anticipating the day when Ukraine will get an answer to its question on whether it will be allowed to go through the Membership Action Plan, or will be invited to join NATO right away.
Such steps are designed to demonstrate that Ukraine has set its sights on NATO and Europe and so is not very friendly with Russia, Kornilov agreed.
"This is no more than a gesture," said Anatoly Tsyganok, head of the military forecasting center at the Institute of Political and Military Analysis. "Actually, no one really believes the Ukrainian army is ready for a military engagement with the Russians."
RBC Daily
EU not ready for expansion to post-Soviet countries
The European Commission has published a basic framework for its Eastern Partnership project to establish an institutionalized forum for discussing visa agreements, free trade deals and strategic partnership agreements with the former Soviet republics, while avoiding the controversial topic of accession to the European Union.
Instead of full membership, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine have been proposed cooperation with Europe in a "27 plus all the others" format. The European Union has therefore indicated it is not planning to expand to former Soviet countries any time soon.
The planned supreme body of the Eastern Partnership will hold an annual summit of "27 plus five or six" nations, the first one slated for June 2009. The EU and Eastern Partnership foreign ministers will meet twice a year.
It is still difficult to evaluate the benefits the post-Soviet states will gain from joining the partnership. The concept initiators promise to create a free trade zone modeled on the European Economic Area which includes the EU and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries - Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
The EU also plans to establish a visa-free regime with its eastern partners. However, no specific timeframe has been mentioned for these privileges. For now, the EU proposed setting up Common Application Centres in six countries to help give people quicker entry into the EU's passport-free Schengen zone.
The only specific aspect of the project is the EU's pledge to spend more money on assistance to the eastern partners - to double allocations by 2013 and treble by 2020.
Katinka Barish, a leading economic analyst with the London-based Centre for European Reforms, said what Brussels was offering eastern countries is "a palliative, a half measure." The EU is simply not ready to expand to post-Soviet countries, she added.
Western European countries, the main EU "donors", are reluctant to take on a whole new group of "recipients." Even trebled aid under an Eastern Partnership will be cheaper than accepting new members.
Promises to open a gateway to Europe were in fact the cornerstone of the policies proclaimed by the masterminds of the recent "colored revolutions" in post-Soviet states.
By offering eastern countries this partnership project, Brussels is clearly indicating they should not expect full EU membership soon.
Gazeta.ru
Russia tests new intercontinental ballistic missile
The Russian military has reported that an RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile tipped with multiple independently targeted reentry vehicles (MIRV) has been launched from the Plesetsk spaceport in northern Russia.
The RS-24 (possible NATO designation SS-X-29) is believed to be an enhanced, solid-fuel, MIRVed variant of the Topol-M missile, which should complete all its tests in 2008 and is likely to be deployed in 2009.
It was designed at the Moscow Institute of Heat Engineering by Yury Solomonov's group.
Experts are divided over the missile's origins, according to the Oruzhie Rossii online catalogue of Russian weapons.
Some say it is a modernized version of the Soviet-made RS-22 (SS-24 Scalpel), whose production was stopped after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 because the main production sites were located outside Russia. If this is the case, then Topol-M technology was probably used to create the RS-24.
Others think it is an enhanced variant of the Topol-M missile, with an additional booster and using a MIRV warhead of the Bulava missile.
This is the third flight test of the RS-24. The first test was held in May 2007, and during the second test seven months later the missile hit the designated target at the Kura range in Kamchatka in Russia's Far East.
If subsequent tests are considered successful, the missile could be deployed in 2009. But military experts see no reason to rush unduly.
Anatoly Tsyganok of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies said: "Since it has not been reported if the missile has hit the designated target, or even reached the Kura range, the trial could be considered as just one of a series of tests made to check the missile's flight ballistics."
Vitaly Tsymbal from the Moscow-based Institute of Economy in Transition said many more tests were needed.
"We must have technical proof that this is a good missile," he said. "Its tests will continue, whereas the deployed missiles don't need to be tested. On the other hand, the crews need advanced training."
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