Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Security Challenges in Ukraine After Euromaidan

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Managing Security Threats along the EU’s Eastern Flanks

Part of the book series: New Security Challenges ((NSECH))

  • 521 Accesses

Abstract

The chapter assesses the security situation in Ukraine and the current NATO partnership with Kyiv with a view to offer new options for cooperation and security sector reform–driven initiatives. The aim of this study is to investigate possibilities for increased EU-NATO cooperation in relation to Ukraine in the fields of cybersecurity, strategic communication and security sector reform, with the objective of further embedding the country’s security. The research is supported by primary sources (EU official documents), secondary literature and semi-structured anonymous interviews with EU and NATO officials based in Brussels and in Kyiv.

Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    European Commission, European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, 28 September 2017, available at: https://ec.europa.eu/echo/files/aid/countries/factsheets/ukraine_en.pdf.

  2. 2.

    Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).Ukraine IDP Figure Analysis, available at: http://www.internal-displacement.org/europe-the-caucasus-and-central-asia/ukraine/figures-analysis.

  3. 3.

    Euronews, ‘Ukraine crisis has created more than 2 million refugees, UN reports’, 22 April 2015, available at: http://www.euronews.com/2015/04/22/ukraine-crisis-has-created-more-than-2-million-refugees-un-reports.

  4. 4.

    In this chapter, the Western institutions are defined as the EU, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

  5. 5.

    Kadri Liik, How the EU Needs to Manage Relations With Its Eastern Neighborhood, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 23 August 2017, available at: http://carnegieendowment.org/2017/08/23/how-eu-needs-to-manage-relations-with-its-eastern-neighborhood-pub-72883.

  6. 6.

    Institute of World Policy, What do Ukrainians Think about Ukraine?, 20 August 2015, available at: http://iwp.org.ua/en/publication/shho-dumayut-ukrayintsi-pro-ukrayinu/.

  7. 7.

    European Commission, EU-Ukraine Trade, 22 February 2017, available at: http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/countries-and-regions/countries/ukraine/.

  8. 8.

    Euractiv, ‘Dutch senators approve compromise on EU-Ukraine pact’, 31 May 2017, available at: https://www.euractiv.com/section/elections/news/dutch-senators-approve-compromise-on-eu-ukraine-pact/.

  9. 9.

    The fifth EaP Summit occurred in Brussels on 24 November 2017.

  10. 10.

    Rikard Jozwiak, ‘EU Ties With Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine To Dominate Summit, According To Paper Seen By RFE/RL’, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 21 September 2017, available at: https://www.rferl.org/a/eu-summit-georgia-moldova-ukraine-eastern-partership/28749474.html?ltflags=mailer.

  11. 11.

    Under Obama’s administration, it was absolutely clear that sending offensive or lethal military equipment to Ukraine to assist in its standoff with Russia was off the table. However, the situation is changing under Trump’s administration, following the June 2019 US Senate’s approval for expanded military aid to Ukraine. 100 million (out of 300 million) was designated for lethal weapons such as anti-aircraft missiles and anti-ship weapons for coastal defence. A proposal to provide lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine to help the country defend its sovereignty is pending approval.

  12. 12.

    Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), ‘Latest from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), based on information received as of 19:30, 15 November 2017’, 16 November 2017, available at: http://www.osce.org/special-monitoring-mission-to-ukraine/357131.

  13. 13.

    International Crisis Group (ICG), Ukraine: Military Deadlock, Political Crisis, Briefing N.85, 19 December 2016.

  14. 14.

    Ibid.

  15. 15.

    The Normandy Format, also known as the Normandy contact group, is a diplomatic group of senior representatives of the four countries (Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France) tasked with finding a solution for the crisis in Donbas.

  16. 16.

    Vladimir Socor, ‘Putin, Merkel Exchange Views on Ukraine in Sochi (part one and two)’, Eurasia Daily Monitor, 10 May 2017, available at: https://jamestown.org/program/putin-merkel-exchange-views-ukraine-sochi-part-one/ and https://jamestown.org/program/putin-merkel-exchange-views-ukraine-sochi-part-two/.

  17. 17.

    Steven Fifer, ‘Test Putin’s proposal for U.N. peacekeepers’, Brookings, 13 September 2017, available at: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2017/09/13/test-putins-proposal-for-u-n-peacekeepers/.

  18. 18.

    Steven Fifer, Test Putin’s. Putin’s initial proposal was that the UN peacekeepers would provide security to the OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission only along the line of contact, but it was later amended to encompass the whole territory of Donbas without the Ukraine-Russia border.

  19. 19.

    Maksym Bugriy, ‘Russian Proposal Reopens Donbas UN Peacekeepers Debate Publication’, Eurasia Daily Monitor 14:116, 22 September 2017, available at: https://jamestown.org/program/russian-proposal-reopens-donbas-un-peacekeepers-debate/.

  20. 20.

    International Crisis Group (ICG), Ukraine: Military Deadlock, Political Crisis, Briefing N.85 (19 December 2016).

  21. 21.

    The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) was deployed on 21 March 2014, following a request to the OSCE by Ukraine’s government and a consensus decision by all 57 OSCE participating States. The SMM is an unarmed, civilian mission, present in all regions of Ukraine. Its main tasks are to observe and report, in an impartial and objective way, on the situation in Ukraine, as well as to facilitate dialogue among all parties to the crisis.

  22. 22.

    A paramedic who was part of the OSCE SMM patrol to Ukraine died and two SMM monitors were taken to hospital on the 23rd of April after their vehicle was heavily damaged by an explosion near Pryshyb in a separatist-controlled area of the Luhansk region.

  23. 23.

    European Council. Illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol: EU extends sanctions by one year, Press Release, Foreign affairs & international relations, available at: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2016/06/17-annexation-crimea-sevastopol-eu-extends-sanctions/.

  24. 24.

    Kadri Liik, How the EU Needs to Manage Relations With Its Eastern Neighborhood, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 23 August 2017, available at: http://carnegieendowment.org/2017/08/23/how-eu-needs-to-manage-relations-with-its-eastern-neighborhood-pub-72883.

  25. 25.

    John R. Deni, Enhancing NATO’s Forward Presence, Carnegie Europe, 27 April 2017, available at: http://carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/?fa=68792.

  26. 26.

    RFE/RL, ‘Poland, NATO Troops Hold Drills Amid Security Concerns’, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 21 September 2017, available at: https://www.rferl.org/a/nato-poland-dragon-military-exercise/28749659.html?ltflags=mailer.

  27. 27.

    North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, EU-NATO Joint Declaration, Press Release 119, 8 July 2016, available at: http://www.nato.int/cps/de/natohq/official_texts_133163.htm.

  28. 28.

    European External Action Service, ‘EU-NATO cooperation stronger than ever’, 29 June 2017, available at: https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage_fr/29052/EU-NATO%20cooperation%20stronger%20than%20ever.

  29. 29.

    Mans Hanssen, International Support to Security Sector Reform in Ukraine: A mapping of SSR projects (Folke Bernadotte Academy, 2016).

  30. 30.

    RFE/RL, ‘U.S. Military Chief Says Recommends Providing Ukraine With Lethal Defensive Aid’, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 27 September 2017, available at: https://www.rferl.org/a/us-military-chief-dunford-says-recommends-providing-ukraine-lethal-defensive-aid/28759423.html.

  31. 31.

    RFE/RL, ‘Trump Lectures NATO Allies On Defence Spending’, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 25 May 2017, available at: https://www.rferl.org/a/nato-trump/28509003.html.

  32. 32.

    European External Action Service, EU-NATO Cooperation Factsheet, 16 June 2017, available at: https://eeas.europa.eu/sites/eeas/files/eu_nato_factsheet_16-06-2017.pdf.

  33. 33.

    European External Action Service, Progress report on the implementation of the common set of proposals endorsed by NATO and EU Councils on 6 December 2016, 14 June 2017, available at: https://eeas.europa.eu/sites/eeas/files/170614-joint-progress-report-eu-nato-en-1.pdf.

  34. 34.

    Steven Horrell, A NATO Strategy for Security in the Black Sea Region, Atlantic Council, Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, October 2016, available at: http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/images/publications/NATO_Strategy_Black_Sea_Region_web_1004.pdf.

  35. 35.

    Igor Delanoe, ‘After the Crimean crisis: towards a greater Russian maritime power in the Black Sea’, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 14: 3 (2014), p. 372.

  36. 36.

    Interview with NATO official, 28 July 2017.

  37. 37.

    Interview with NATO official, 21 July 2017.

  38. 38.

    Adam Hug, The information battle: How governments in the former Soviet Union promote their agendas and attack their opponents abroad (London: Foreign Policy Centre, 2017), pp. 8–10.

  39. 39.

    North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, Coordination Meeting on StratCom Training for Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, Riga, 19/02/2015, available at: http://leurenmoret.info/currents/editorial-page/psyop-101-/doc-1-stratcom-training.pdf.

  40. 40.

    The Netherlands and the UK are particularly active. The UK assigned several millions a year extra to supporting independent media in the eastern neighbourhood. The Dutch have actively run a donor group of Member states and in funding this news exchange in Prague. There is also a Baltic Centre for Media Excellence in Riga, and the Czech Republic helps by funding the headquarters of the News Exchange centre in Prague.

  41. 41.

    Interview with the EEAS official, 27 September 2017.

  42. 42.

    EUvsDisinfo, The law on education demonstrates that Ukraine is a Nazi state, 25 September 2017, available at: https://euvsdisinfo.eu/report/the-law-on-education-which-was-signed-by-president-poroshenko-on-25-10-2017-and-which-provides-gradual-transfer-of-secondary-education-in-this-country-into-the-ukrainian-language-demonstrates-that-u/.

  43. 43.

    Interview with the NATO official, 28 July 2017.

  44. 44.

    EEAS East StratCom, How to deal with pro-Kremlin trolls in 4 steps, EU Mythbusters, 19 August 2017, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Na_Urs7_rc&feature=youtu.be.

  45. 45.

    Interview with Mark Opgenorth, ex-deputy director at NATO Liaison office in Ukraine, 2 August 2017.

  46. 46.

    Opgenorth interview.

  47. 47.

    Ibid.

  48. 48.

    NATO, NATO Trust Fund on Cyber Defence in Ukraine, June 2016, available at: http://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/pdf_2016_07/20160712_1606-trust-fund-ukr-cyberdef.pdf.

  49. 49.

    The other seven are: Romania (lead nation), Albania, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Turkey and the US.

  50. 50.

    Interview with the NATO official, 14 September 2017.

  51. 51.

    Security Service of Ukraine, Completion ceremony of NATO Trust Fund first phase with the support of Ukraine in strengthening of cyber protection takes place in the SBU, available at: https://ssu.gov.ua/en/news/1/category/21/view/3668#.o9t31vxF.dpbs.

  52. 52.

    The Eastern Partnership Panel on CSDP is conducted twice a year, in spring and in autumn. The next will be in October 2017 in Kyiv. This panel is promoting Eastern partnership, cooperation, developing and so on, and CSDP panellists itself, a common security and defence policy. The leading contributors in this panel are the Baltic States, Poland, Sweden, Austria and Finland.

  53. 53.

    See also Chaps. 1 and 2 of this volume.

  54. 54.

    Interview with EEAS official, 13 September 2017.

  55. 55.

    Finnish Government (Communications Department), European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats established in Helsinki, Press Release 159, 11 April 2017, available at: http://valtioneuvosto.fi/en/article/-/asset_publisher/10616/eurooppalainen-hybridiuhkien-osaamiskeskus-perustettiin-helsinkiin.

  56. 56.

    Global Forum on Cyber Expertise, Cybersecurity in Ukraine: National Strategy and International Cooperation, 7 June 2017, available at: https://www.thegfce.com/news/news/2017/05/31/cybersecurity-in-ukraine.

  57. 57.

    Interview with NATO official, 21 July 2017.

References

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. European Neighbourhood Council, Brussels, Belgium

    Andreas Marazis

Authors
  1. Andreas Marazis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andreas Marazis .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of International Relations, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK

    Rick Fawn

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Marazis, A. (2020). Security Challenges in Ukraine After Euromaidan. In: Fawn, R. (eds) Managing Security Threats along the EU’s Eastern Flanks . New Security Challenges. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26937-1_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation