Ukraine's PM pushes for approval of new military doctrine

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Thursday he is pushing for Ukraine's new military doctrine to be approved quickly by the National Security and Defense Council.
According to an action plan approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement, the new wording of the military doctrine must be in place by December 2015.
"We expect that the NSDC, through a presidential decree, to adopt a new military doctrine and present reforms and a new system of the army and armed forces of the country," Yatsenyuk announced at Kiev Borys Hrinchenko University on Thursday.
The prime minister explained in early September the rationale for the new doctrine. "Ukraine needs a new defense doctrine clearly determining who the aggressor is and who a threat is. The new defense doctrine should designate Russia as an aggressor state and the principal and only country that threatens Ukraine's territorial integrity and national security."
That declaration by Yatsenyuk was preceded by Russia's announced intention to revise its military doctrine to counter the expected deployment of 4,000 rapid-reaction NATO forces in Eastern Europe.