“For Ukraine, the course on Euro-Atlantic integration is one of the priority directions of its development. The Parliament will consider next week the bill No. 9037 aimed at consolidating this course at a constitutional level,” – Iryna Herashchenko
On September 13, there was a meeting between Iryna Herashchenko, the First Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and Alejandro Alvargonzalez, Assistant Secretary General of NATO for Political Affairs and Security Policy, the Ambassador.
Iryna Herashchenko thanked for the constant support provided to Ukraine by NATO, helping implement reforms in all spheres, and in particular in the field of national security and defence. The politician said that Ukraine remains committed to the Euro-Atlantic course and informed that next week, there would be considered a draft law envisaging entering the course on Euro-Atlantic integration into Ukraine’s constitution.
The First Vice-Speaker thanked Alejandro Alvargonzalez for the professional assistance of NATO experts in the implementation of the Law of Ukraine "On National Security of Ukraine". Iryna Herashchenko expressed her hopes for further productive cooperation, and informed that drafting the humanitarian demining bill is currently underway. "We also want the new bill on humanitarian demining to meet the standards of NATO countries, so we do count upon the Alliance’s expert assistance," said I. Herashchenko.
During the meeting, Iryna Herashchenko spoke about the security and humanitarian situation in the Donbas. The politician stressed that the Russian side together with its armed puppets continue to break the ceasefire agreement. In this context, I. Herashchenko stressed a dire need to deploy a UN peacekeeping mission in the Donbas.
Particular attention was paid to the release of illegally detained Ukrainian citizens who are held in the occupied territories of Ukraine and in the Russian Federation. Informing of the efforts of the Ukrainian side in releasing the hostages, I.Herashchenko notified about Ukraine’s readiness to convey to the Russian Federation thirty-six Russian citizens convicted of terrorism in Ukraine in exchange for the release of the Ukrainians - hostages and political prisoners of the Kremlin. However, according to her, the Russian side ignores this official proposal. The First Vice-Speaker stressed the importance of further pressure upon the Russian Federation in order to un-block the release of illegally detained Ukrainians.
The participants of the meeting discussed the progress of reforms in Ukraine, in particular, anti-corruption measures, the de-centralization reform, and strengthening parliamentary control over the security agencies.
Ukrainian parliamentarians paid also a special attention to the issue of energy security, in particular, the Kremlin's political project North Stream 2, implementation of which would result in a sensible increase of the energy dependence of the EU countries upon the Russian Federation.
In his turn, Alejandro Alvargonzalez, Assistant Secretary General of NATO for Political Affairs and Security Policy stated that the Alliance would support Ukraine's reforms aimed at bringing NATO closer. The Alliance’s delegate emphasized the importance of continuing the implementation of reforms in all socio-political spheres.
Close heed was also given to the need for reforming the security sector, in particular, the new law on intelligence agencies and parliamentary oversight over the entire system of power-wielding agencies.
Alejandro Alvargonzalez confirmed that the Allies do understand that the security of Europe depends on Ukraine’s security heavily.
Iryna Friz, Head of the UA Parliamentary Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Hanna Hopko, Head of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Mariia Ionova, Deputy Head of the Committee on European Integration had ample talks with Alejandro Alvargonzalez about introducing gender equality into law enforcement agencies, implementing new legislation governing intelligence community activities, counteracting Russia’s propaganda and other hybrid warfare activities, and finally they exchanged their opinions over Russian meddling into election processes.
Alejandro Alvargonzalez was also informed about the importance of halting the blockage of meetings of the NATO-Ukraine Commission by Hungary in order to deepen the mutual political dialogue and expand the practical cooperation between Ukraine and the Alliance.
The meeting was also attended by Alexander Vinnikov, Head of the NATO Representation to Ukraine and some other NATO high-ranking officials.