Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
Jan 11 2005
Ukraine’s Withdrawal Seen As Politically Important, Militarily
Insignificant
By Kathleen Moore
Ukraine says it plans to pull its 1,600 troops out of Iraq in the
first half of this year. The announcement comes after eight Ukrainian
soldiers died in an explosion at an ammunition dump in Iraq. Kyiv’s
decision follows other announcements of changes to the multinational
force in Iraq. Poland, which also has one of the largest troop
contingents in Iraq, is cutting its presence by one-third within the
next few months, while the United Kingdom says it plans to send an
extra 400 soldiers.
Prague, 11 January 2005 (RFE/RL) — “The [outgoing] president of
Ukraine [Leonid Kuchma] has ordered the defense minister and the
foreign minister to immediately begin planning for a withdrawal of
the Ukrainian contingent from Iraq in the first half of this year,”
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk said.
Kuzmuk said the country’s 1,600 troops could begin leaving Iraq in
March or April. The Ukrainian parliament called today for an even
quicker withdrawal.
The troop presence has been unpopular, and a withdrawal had been
expected. But the firmer timetable announced yesterday came a day
after eight Ukrainians — and one Kazakh — died in an explosion at
an Iraqi ammunition dump.
Valeriy Chaly, an analyst at Kyiv’s Razumkov Center, told RFE/RL:
“This decision wasn’t unexpected. Parliament in December adopted a
resolution that had a recommendatory character, and today we’ve seen
that confirmed with the request for the president to sign a decree on
the immediate withdrawal of the Ukrainian contingent from Iraq. Of
course, the deaths of the biggest number of Ukrainian soldiers since
the beginning of the campaign [on 9 January] provided a shocking
stimulus [to this decision]. But nonetheless — though it might sound
cynical — I would say it has a political tinge to it.”
Kuchma’s order was seen by some as an attempt to upstage the man who
is soon to replace him. Viktor Yushchenko, who won last month’s rerun
presidential election, is also in favor of withdrawing Ukrainian
troops from Iraq. Warsaw, too, has announced it is pulling one-third
of its troops out of Iraq next month, after the Iraqi elections.
Other countries withdrew last year, like Spain and the Philippines.
But there are changes in the opposite direction. The United Kingdom
announced yesterday that it will be sending more troops to Iraq —
400 of them, ahead of the 30 January elections. Georgia also
previously announced extra troops for this month. And Armenia last
month approved sending a small contingent of troops. “In a way, it
doesn’t matter enormously how many countries are there and what
they’re producing in military terms. Politically, it’s a different
matter.”
In an initial reaction to the Ukrainian move, U.S. State Department
spokesman Adam Ereli expressed condolences for the soldiers who died.
And he said a withdrawal would not detract from Ukraine’s
contribution.
“I would reject any notion that anybody is running scared in this
matter. First of all, Ukraine has courageously supported the
multinational force in Iraq. They are one of the largest contributors
of troops. They are an important partner to the coalition’s efforts.
We value their contribution, and we recognize their sacrifice,” Ereli
said.
Julian Lindley-French is a Geneva-based security analyst. He said the
Ukrainian and Polish moves will be a blow to the multinational force,
as it needs as many troops as possible to perform a “robust”
peacekeeping job.
“The Ukrainians and Poles would argue that with the elections coming
up, they’ve fulfilled their job to be present until Iraq can
reestablish its own state sovereignty. Obviously, in the real world,
the need for troops to stabilize the situation will continue. I
suspect the Poles and Ukrainians are using the increased numbers of
American and British troops as a cover to try and get out — in a
sense, trying to force the Americans and the British to keep high
levels of troops there over a longer period, which won’t go down too
well in Washington or London,” Lindley-French said.
But British defense analyst Paul Cornish told RFE/RL that such troop
reductions don’t matter much, at least in military terms. “[The
Ukrainians and Poles are] doing important policing and guarding
roles, [but] they are much less significant than the British and
Americans and those forces — and there are few of them — that can
conduct high-intensity counterinsurgency operations,” he said. “So
really, in a way, it doesn’t matter enormously how many countries are
there and what they’re producing in military terms. Politically, it’s
a different matter.”
Any final decision on the status of Ukraine’s troops may come only
when Yushchenko takes office.
A total of 16 Ukrainian troops have died in Iraq since their
deployment as part of U.S.-led coalition forces in 2003.