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Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin (R) and his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, attend a news conference in Kiev, Ukraine, Feb. 10, 2017.(photo byREUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko)

Author:Metin Gurcan Posted May 1, 2017

It looks likeUkraine is becomingTurkey's new go-to defense technology partner.Strategic ties between Turkey and Ukraine in the fields of defense and military cooperation are flourishing. The latest development was the April 19-22visit to Turkey of the commander of the Ukrainian navy, Vice Adm. Ihor Voronchenko, and his delegation.

TranslatorTimur Gksel

Voronchenko visited Golcuk shipyards, where Turkey built theAda-class SW corvettes TCG(Turkiye Cumhuriyeti Gemisi,or "Ship of the Turkish Republic")Heybeliada,Buyukada and Burgazada and delivered them to the Turkish navy in 2011 and 2013; the TCG Kinaliada is under construction there. Turkish and Ukrainian navy personnel participated in the Eurasia Partnership Maritime Interdiction Operations held April 3-7 in Ukraines port ofOdessa.The Turkish navy visited Batum,Georgia;Novorossiysk,Russia;Constanta,Romania; andVarna,Bulgaria, and heldjoint air defense exercises with the Ukrainian navy at Odessa.

Meanwhile, high-level defense industry visits between Turkey and Ukraine have become frequent. The volume of trade between the countries, which was $3.7 billionin 2016, is expected to reach $20 billion in five years now that they have signed afree-trade accord. Their mutual defense industry projects involve satellite technology, warships and navigation systems, radars, engine technology, phased space rockets and ballistic missilesystems, solid fuel rocket engines, long-range ballistic missiles and even cruise missiles.

Recently, when Austria restrictedtechnological support for the engine of the Altay mainbattle tank Turkey designed and is producing using mainly local technologies, Ankara turned to Ukraine.Ukrainian Prime Minister Vladimir Groysmanvisited Turkey on March 14, and the two countries signed a preliminary memorandumof understanding in whichUkraine is proposing its 6TD-3 enginefor the Turkish tank.

What encouraged this rapidly developing defense industry and military technology cooperation between Turkey and Ukraine?

The first reasonis geographical: Unlike other NATO and European countries, Turkey is a neighborof both Russia and Ukraine and is therefore always careful to balance its relations with both.

The other reason is Black Sea geopolitics. According to Devrim Yaylali, an expert on the naval defense industry who spoke with Al-Monitor, although the Black Sea appears to be an inland sea, it still has vibrant, heavy traffic coming from the rivers of Europe and Russia and also from Turkeys straits. Russia's invasions ofGeorgia in 2008 and Crimea in 2014 have added to the complexity of security politics of the Black Sea.Ukraine has a long Black Sea coast, andthe country's contribution to Black Sea security is important for Turkey.

For Ukraine, Turkeys role in restraining Russia in the Black Sea and supporting Ukraines membership in NATO are important assets.

Yaylali added: Turkey doesnt want any other navies in the Black Seaother than those of [coastal]countries. That is why it is crucial for Turkey to maintain good relations particularly with naval and coast guard forces of all [coastal]states. This was demonstrated by the Turkish navys visit to all the Black Sea countries" during the 2017 Sea Star exercises.

Another motive for Turkey and Ukraine to cooperate: Both countries want to share military technology to expandand strengthen theirnational defense industries.Neither has a self-sufficient defense industry.

Yaylali says Ukraine's navy is weak. He explained: Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine has not added any new vessels to its navy. After Russias occupation of Crimea in 2014 and its seizure of some of the Ukrainian navy vessels, Ukraine doesnt have a navy to speak of. Before 2014, Ukrainian warships had gone to the Mediterranean and twice to the Gulf of Aden to support NATO operations. But today, for Ukrainian ships to move out of the Black Sea is only a dream.

To defend its naval interests, Ukraine will haveto make a major investment. Itcould buysecondhand military vessels from NATO countriesor build them in Ukraine. This explains Ukraines interest in the experience Turkey has gained in constructing warships locally. Turkey can provide Ukraine with technical support to design and produce a warship in its own shipyards. Turkey can also provide standard NATO weapons systems, sensors and radars for vessels Ukraine can build.

Turkeys interest in the Ukrainian defense industry is basically in satellite technologies, diesel engines, ballistic missile solid fuel engines and cruisemissiles. It is interesting to learn, based on their joint projects,that Turkey is particularly interested in cruise missiles.

According to defense industry expert Arda Mevlutoglu, Ukraine has advanced capabilityin electronic warfare, radar technology and engines. Mevlutoglu said Turkeys most urgentneeds from Ukraine are diesel engines.

When Turkeys sale of self-propelled howitzers to Azerbaijan didnt materialize after Germany, for political reasons, blocked sales of engines for the howitzers Turkey began looking to Ukraine as the alternative source of engines, Mevlutoglu added.

Ukraine also hassignificant knowledge and experience in basic sciences such as mathematics, physics andchemistry, and their applications. Turkey seriously lags in these fields. The two countries last year launched projects to develop joint sonar systems. They also havestudent exchange programs, especially in the engineering fields needed in the defense industry.

Of course, not to be ignored is Ukraine's geopolitical importance;most of the natural gas Ankara buys from Russia reaches Turkey via pipelines passing through Ukraine.

What is becoming apparent is that Ukraine is the nearest and most willing potential partner to help Turkey overcome the interruptions in military technology transferfrom the United States and Europebecause offrequent political disagreements. However,Ukraine suffered tremendous economic and human resources losses with ongoing clashes since 2014 and Russias annexation of Crimea,"Mevlutoglu said."Much of its defense industry was either looted by Russian intelligence services or simply fell into Russian hands because they were in Crimea. That is why we have to wonder if Ukraine can deliver its promises of strategic cooperation. That is why it would be wiser if Ankara focuses on what Ukraine can do instead of what it promises.

Read More: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/05/turkey-ukraine-cooperation-defense-booming.html

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Turkey-Ukraine defense industry ties are booming - Al-Monitor - Al-Monitor

MINSK, 2 May (BelTA) Belarus enables the necessary conditions for Ukrainian migrants, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Belarus Igor Kizim said in an interview with the Belarus 1 TV channel, BelTA has learned.

I would like to thank our fraternal nation, the Belarusian state and the Belarusian president personally for what is being done for the people temporarily displaced from Ukraine. It is very important to help them and create the conditions to live and work here. Belarus provides such possibilities, Igor Kizim noted.

The Ukrainian diplomat commended the current state of Ukraine-Belarus trade and economic cooperation. According to him, it is showing positive results.

Igor Kizim also touched upon the topical issue of the Minsk process on the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis and the role of the Minsk platform. The ambassador believes that Minsk II has not run its course yet. Those who do not want peace may not be comfortable with the Minsk platform. I think that the Minsk process has not yet been exhausted. It has proved its topicality. I have taken part in the work of the trilateral contact group and in a Normandy format meeting. Although difficult the process is moving forward. All the sides scrupulously defend their interests but at the same time manage to find compromises, Igor Kizim underlined. He also remarked that the talks about Minsk III are untimely.

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Ukraine ambassador: Belarus enables necessary conditions for Ukrainian migrants - Belarus News (BelTA)

The five men and a woman were detained by UK Border Force staff who were lying in wait after tracking the yacht across the North Sea. They were all later deported

CCTV which covers the quay and the riverside at Orford was upgraded in 2015 with a grant of 2,660 from Suffolk's Police and Crime Commissioner, Tim Passmore.

He said that the grant was aimed at reducing petty crime and discouraging the use of the quay as "a drop-off point for illegalimmigrants".

Mr Passmore added: "Suffolk's coastline is vulnerable to people-trafficking, as is the whole of the south and east coast, so we made sure the CCTV system was suitable for the UK Border Force, which is responsible for the security of our coastline, to obtain evidence if required.

"Whilst Suffolk Constabulary is not responsible for border control, it is clear we need to work together to protect our coastline.

"Orford Quay is an isolated area so it is important we do all we can to reassure local residents that their community is safe particularly during the hours of darkness."

Last September six suspected illegalimmigrantswere smuggled on a yacht which landed them at nearby Bawdsey.

The group of men and women were seen getting into a Range Rover and then dropped off in a pub car park at Bromeswell near Woodbridge.

CCTV images of the car park showed them fleeing out of the car as soon as it stopped.

Stuart Bacon, 84, who owns a craft shop in Orford said last year: "This area has been used for smuggling for hundreds of years.

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Seven suspected illegal immigrants from Ukraine discovered on a ... - Telegraph.co.uk

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with his Ukrainian counterpart during an upcoming visit to Israel next month, after a previously scheduled visit was nixed in protest over Kievs support for a UN Security Council resolution against Israeli settlements, the Foreign Ministry said Sunday.

Volodymyr Groysman, who became Ukraines first Jewish prime minister last year, will arrive for a two-day visit in Israel on May 14, in what Hebrew media reports said will mark a formal end to the tensions between Jerusalem and Kiev.

The Ukrainian prime minister was originally scheduled to arrive in Israel for a two-day visit in December, that was set to include meetings with Netanyahu, President Reuven Rivlin and other top officials.

However, after Ukraine voted in favor of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 in late December, which labeled Israeli settlements as having no legal validity and a flagrant violation under international law, Jerusalem disinvited Groysman to protest Kievs support for the resolution, which Israel denounced as shameful.

Following the cancellation of Groysmans visit, Ukraine reacted angrily to the slight by summoning Israels ambassador, Eli Belotserkovsky, to the Foreign Ministry in Kiev for a dressing-down.

However, a February phone call between Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko effectively put an end to tensions between Jerusalem and Kiev, with a statement from the Prime Ministers Office at the time saying the two leaders agreed to resume their efforts to further strengthen the friendship between Israel and Ukraine.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a special plenary session held in honor of visiting Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (R) at the Knesset, Jerusalem, on December 23, 2015. (Flash90/Hadas Parush)

In the wake of the passage of the Security Council measure, Ukraine defended its vote in favor of Resolution 2234 by hinting at its own conflict with Russia as a driving force behind the decision.

Without explicitly mentioning Moscows annexation of Crimea and a civil war in the countrys east with Russian-backed separatists, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said it experienced itself the tragic consequences brought by the violation of international law, effectively drawing a parallel between Israeli building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and Russian policies.

After the measure was passed, the Israeli government took a number of retaliatory measures against countries that supported its passage, including an official dressing-down of the Security Council members ambassadors to Israel.

The Security Council resolution, which passed 14-0 with only the United States abstaining, also called on Israel to immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, while also expressing its grave concern that continuing Israeli settlement activities are dangerously imperiling the viability of the two-state solution.

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Following earlier snub, Ukraine's Jewish PM to visit Israel in May - The Times of Israel

Ukrainian authorities have decided to open a criminal investigation into a 94-year-old Jewish WWII hero who is being accused of killing a Nazi collaborator.

Col. Boris Steckler was warned that he is expected to stand trial for killing a Ukrainian nationalist in 1952.

Col. Boris Steckler

Steckler was a senior officer in the Soviet Army and after the war was appointed as an officer in the KGB and was responsible for capturing Nazis and collaborators in western Ukraine.

During a battle in the Rivne Oblast in western Ukraine, Steckler was involved in a confrontation with nationalists who cooperated with the Nazis. During the confrontation, a man by the name of Neil Hasiewicz, who was a propagandist and district judge during the war, was shot and killed.

Local nationalist groups recently filed a complaint against Steckler, accusing him of responsibility for the assassination of Hasiewicza fact that Steckler does not deny.

Sketch of Neil Hasiewicz

In an unprecedented move, this is the first time Ukrainian authorities have sought to arrest a person who worked against Nazi collaborators during and after the Second World War.

Steckler was recognized as a local war hero and is regularly invited to the parades commemorating the victory over the Nazis. He was wounded during the war and received countless medals for courage.

Alex Tantzer, whose family was murdered in the Holocaust in the Rivne region, said that it was nothing less than a sign of cultural decline for Ukrainians.

"I do not know whether this is anti-Semitism or not. In Ukraine, there are occasional complaints from nationalist organizations, and it's a shame that the authorities take it seriously ... It's a shame that the government in Ukraine does not stop these horrific things. Now when we celebrate victory over Nazi Germany, we are persecuting this Jew who fought against Nazis."

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Ukraine opens criminal probe against 94-year-old Jewish WWII hero - Ynetnews