August 18,
2008: Ukraine has offered European
nations the use of its three decade old early warning radars. Last Summer, Russia and Ukraine agreed that these Soviet
era radar facilities would no longer be part of a Russian ballistic missile
warning system. Meanwhile, Russia is refurbishing this missile warning system,
which has decayed from lack of funding since the end of the Cold War 17 years
ago.
Ukraine has,
in that time, become increasingly pro-Europe, largely to avoid being reabsorbed
into Russia. These fears have increased because of the recent Russian invasion
of Georgia, and Russian insistence that its naval base in Sevastopol (southern
Ukraine), which is leased (until 2017), will always be Russian. Then there is
the fact that much of eastern Ukraine is Russian speaking, because Russians
were encouraged to migrate to Ukraine by the Soviet era communist dictatorship.
This
Ukrainian offer is mainly symbolic. The Dnepr type early warning radars in
Mukachevo and Sevastopol are 1970s era technology. Russia is building a new early
warning radar network, on its own territory, using cheaper (to build and
operate) modern technology. Besides, the old Soviet radars are pointing the
wrong way (towards the west). However, the radars do show any ballistic missile
activity in North Africa, and can be used to track aircraft. The offer was made
largely to annoy the Russians, and to try and get NATO to let Ukraine join.
