Ukraine: War games

The Black Sea will resemble a giant game of Battleship this week as a vast military exercise named 'Sea Breeze-2008' gets underway in the Ukrainian coastal city of Odessa.

Over 1,000 service members from 15 countries will take part in airborne and amphibious exercises under the auspices of NATO's Partnership for Peace programme, with most participants coming from the United States and Ukraine. In preparation for Sea Breeze, an Odessa court has banned both pro- and anti-exercise demonstrations through the end of July.  The step is unusual in post-'Orange Revolution' Ukraine, because Kiev's often chaotic -- but generally democratic -- government no longer quashes public gatherings and political demonstrations as a matter of course.

However, Kiev is particularly wary of protests surrounding Sea Breeze, which forced the exercise's cancellation two years ago in an embarrassing setback for President Viktor Yushchenko, who had championed the event.  Sea Breeze has since been linked to Yushchenko's NATO ambitions, a goal that is not supported by the majority of the Ukrainian public.

Yet even Ukrainian leaders who are generally regarded as Moscow-friendly, like former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, support Sea Breeze.  It provides Ukrainian soldiers and sailors with sorely needed training opportunities, and allows the military leadership to show off tangible improvements in professionalism and interoperability.  Sea Breeze, like the rest of Ukraine's robust military cooperation with the West, will continue regardless of whether Ukraine accedes to NATO any time soon.  Yet convincing average Ukrainians of the exercise's value -- and separating it from the politically charged question of Ukraine's NATO accession -- may prove a much more difficult task.