Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07KYIV1916
2007-08-06 13:02:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kyiv
Cable title:  

UKRAINE: NATO SEA BREEZE EXERCISE AN "UNQUALIFIED

Tags:  PGOV UP 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO2425
PP RUEHDBU
DE RUEHKV #1916/01 2181302
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 061302Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY KYIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3287
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KYIV 001916 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/06/2017
TAGS: PGOV UP
SUBJECT: UKRAINE: NATO SEA BREEZE EXERCISE AN "UNQUALIFIED
SUCCESS"

Classified By: Ambassador, reason 1.4 (b,d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KYIV 001916

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/06/2017
TAGS: PGOV UP
SUBJECT: UKRAINE: NATO SEA BREEZE EXERCISE AN "UNQUALIFIED
SUCCESS"

Classified By: Ambassador, reason 1.4 (b,d)


1. (C) Summary: Sea Breeze 2007, the largest ever
multinational exercise in the Black Sea, concluded July 22.
Over two weeks, exercise participants from 13 NATO PfP member
countries enhanced interoperability through peacekeeping
operations, search and rescue, and communications training.
Despite Communist and Socialist party opposition to
legislation authorizing foreign troops to enter Ukraine for
Sea Breeze passed in late May, their efforts to disrupt the
exercise were unsuccessful. Protesters demonstrated outside
of training facilities throughout the two week exercise, but
national and local authorities anticipated force protection
needs and were prepared to provide support as needed. Six US
personnel were injured in an unrelated attack by street
hooligans, however, an investigation determined that it was
not/not anti-US or anti US Navy.


2. (C) Comment: Beyond enjoying some of the obvious economic
benefits of hosting the exercise, Odesa's citizens were by
and large uninterested in Sea Breeze; protests were
unenthusiastic, and efforts to politicize the exercise were
ineffective. However, Sea Breeze generated significant
positive media attention, including television, radio, and
print coverage of the opening ceremony and press conference.
Journalists presented accurate information on the
multinational nature of the exercise. Some media covered the
small scale demonstrations, usually in a balanced fashion.
This year's exercise stood in stark contrast to Sea Breeze
2006 due to the President's and Prime Minister's agreement to
enact the necessary legislation and support for holding the
exercise, to the satisfaction of Ukrainian Defense Minister
Hrytsenko, who stressed to the Ambassador and embassy
officers on numerous occasions the training value of the
exercise and the exercise's importance in supporting his
ongoing reform efforts at the Ministry of Defense. By all
accounts, Sea Breeze 2007 was an unqualified success. End
Summary and Comment.

A Successful Training Exercise
--------------


3. (SBU) Sea Breeze 2007, the largest multinational exercise
in the Black Sea, concluded July 22. Approximately 2,500
soldiers and 23 ships (including the guided missile destroyer

USS DONALD COOK) from 13 countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Canada, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova,
Romania, Turkey, Ukraine and the United States) participated
in the two week program. The exercise, conducted in the
spirit of NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) program, aimed to
improve interoperability of military forces. The objectives
included training on peace keeping operations, search and
rescue, and communications.


4. (SBU) Sea Breeze participants completed 197 training tasks
on sea, land, and in the air. These included boarding,
diving, mine sweeping, ship maneuvers, convoy and urban
operations, check point management, amphibious raids, and air
defense. Pilots logged 138 flight hours, with 52 sorties,
and supported 152 parachute jumps.


5. (SBU) While some ships experienced technical
communications problems, commanders noted the success in
working in a wide variety of languages. They also lauded the
focus on safety and professionalism of officers and crews,
and noted the successful accomplishment of objectives. The
exercise directors emphasized during the closing ceremony and
to the press that Sea Breeze 2007 met its primary aim of
enhancing partnership among the participants.

National and Local Support
--------------


6. (SBU) Unlike Sea Breeze 2006, which generated mass
protests in Crimea and was eventually canceled due to US
operational requirements off the coast of Lebanon, this
year's exercise received notable support from the government
and opposition, both nationally and locally. Although the
Socialist and Communist parties voted against legislation
required to allow foreign troops on to Ukrainian territory,
President Yushchenko and his reform-oriented Defense Minister
obtained Party of Regions support and Rada authorization on
May 29 (as part of a wider settlement to an unrelated
political deadlock). Without the contentious and politicized
atmosphere engendered by the aftermath of the 2006
Parliamentary elections -- and the subsequent five-month
struggle to form a government, Prime Minister Yanukovych
noted that Sea Breeze 2007 was necessary to help develop
Ukraine's armed forces, help protect the Black Sea region,
and fight terrorism.


KYIV 00001916 002 OF 002



7. (SBU) At the local level, Odesa Governor Plachkov and
Mayor Gurvits were also strong public supporters of Sea
Breeze. Both attended the opening ceremony. The Governor's
office praised participants for completing the exercise in
light of the political situation in the country and extolled
the partnerships enhanced by the activity. The Mayor's
office, in addition to assisting with force protection
concerns, in an overzealous display of commitment to holding
a successful exercise, even went so far as to file suit in
district court that resulted in a ban on all anti-NATO
demonstrations inside the city limits (a ruling ignored by
both demonstrators and police).


8. (SBU) The Government of Ukraine (GOU) demonstrated serious
concern and initiative in providing adequate force protection
planning and resources for Sea Breeze. Interagency meetings
held in advance of the exercise included high level
representatives from the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of the
Interior, General Staff, Customs Service, Coast Guard and,
State Security Service (SBU). The GOU ensured safe transit
for personnel and equipment, met several times with protest
organizers to ensure compliance with the law, and assigned
700 police officers to areas of concern. The police presence
outnumbered protesters, usually by more than double.
Comment: It should be noted that US Embassy's DAO, RAO, and
RSO offices pushed the Ukrainian interagency throughout the
process to ensure proper force protection measures were in
place in time for the exercise. End Comment.


9. (C) While the GOU's force protection measures were
adequate and helped ensure the exercise was a success, six
crew members from the USS DONALD COOK were attacked and
injured during liberty leave from the ship. The
confrontation occurred in the downtown area after a soccer
match and involved 15 to 20 young men (believed to be soccer
hooligans) who attacked the US Navy (USN) personnel for no
apparent reason. The assailants fled after learning that the
victims were USN members. An investigation determined that
the incident was more than likely not anti-American or
anti-USN and unrelated to the ongoing exercise. During this
time, groups of soccer hooligans were running around central
Odesa, conducting random acts of violence. This incident
appears to be a case of US personnel who happened to be in
the wrong place at the wrong time.

Protests - Small, Controlled, Negligible Impact
-------------- --------------


10. (SBU) Notwithstanding the energetic declarations by
anti-NATO organizers that 100,000 protesters would descend on
Odesa to disrupt Sea Breeze, demonstrations never reached
more than several hundred people at any given time.
Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko, Progressive Socialist
Party of Ukraine leader Natalia Vitrenko, and Union of
Orthodox Citizens of Ukraine leader Valeriy Kaurov joined
rallies and grabbed a few headlines, but the usually
unenthusiastic crowds dispersed quickly. According to
several accounts, demonstrations tended to last less than an
hour and protesters started to leave as soon as media
coverage ended.


11. (SBU) In most cases, protesters simply ignored the local
Prymorsky Court ruling that banned demonstrations. Symonenko
and NGO leaders expressed concern that the Mayor's suit was
unconstitutional and anti-democratic. The Mayor's office
noted that the intent was not to ban demonstrations outright,
but to control the manner in which they were to be conducted.
In particular, the Mayor opposed the use of tent cities.
The court found in the Mayor's favor because protesters had
not requested permits, as required by the law.


12. (SBU) Protesters, usually in very small numbers,
congregated at the Odesa Sea Terminal, on the Potemkin Steps,
outside the Odesa Officer's Club, and near the front gate of
the Sherokiy Lan training range where the exercise land
component was conducted. Their presence required additional
force movement planning, and occasional rerouting of
personnel or equipment. In addition, a Symonenko-led rally
blocked the entrance to the Ukrainian Navy Headquarters,
causing planners to reschedule a medical/damage control
drill. However, in spite of these minor disruptions, the
protesters had an inconsequential effect on Sea Breeze 2007
and the exercise, as described by co-director Captain Chip
Walter, was "an unqualified success."


13. (U) Visit Embassy KYIV's classified website:
www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev.
Taylor