RUSSIA - Jan. 20 - Kiev-Moscow Military Pact.

Ukraine has agreed to allow Moscow to take part in the planning of all multinational military exercises on its soil. The agreement is part of a 52-point military co-operation accord signed in Kiev. (This signals a new level in Russian-Ukrainian defence ties. It could seriously affect Ukraine's co-operation with NATO, with which Kiev has held joint manoeuvres in the Black Sea every year since 1997. It may also signal a gradual shift in Ukraine's security priorities, away from the west and towards Russia. In November 1998, Ukraine declared a programme of co-operation with NATO, among the goals of which is "acceleration of Ukraine's integration into European and Euro-Atlantic structures which guarantee stability and security on the continent"). Col.-Gen. Leonid Ivashov of the defence ministry, announcing the agreement, obliquely refers to NATO when he says the goal of the agreement is "joint parrying of foreign threats". He adds: "Russia's main national interest in the geopolitical sphere is a stable and friendly Ukraine". He says Ukraine would have the same rights as Russia in helping plan military exercises on Russian territory. The agreement also foresees the formation of a joint Russian-Ukrainian naval unit, and "joint production of a variety of weapons". (Kiev's fast-developing ties to Moscow could pose an early foreign policy challenge to the new US administration of George Bush, which has declared an interest in continuing the expansion of NATO, possibly into the territory of the former Soviet Union. If Ukraine, the largest and most powerful post-Soviet state after Russia, were to enter a military alliance with Moscow or revive the joint weapons production on a large scale, this would have profound implications for European security. Sherman Garnett, an expert on defence issues at the Carnegie Foundation in Washington said: "Ukraine will either turn out to be the key stone in a new arch of security, or it will be the place where the whole structure comes tumbling down"). Asked about the increased tempo of Russian-Ukrainian diplomacy, which includes eight presidential summits in the past year, Ukraine's FM Anatoly Zlenko says: "For a certain period of time relations with Russia were not normal, and now these relations are normalising. So it may seem as though we are sharply strengthening the eastern vector of our foreign policy". But he says Ukraine remains committed to keeping good relations with the US and the EU, in addition to Russia.