UKRAINE: RUSSIAN AND U.S. TROOPS JOIN TOGETHER FOR FIRST TIME IN LARGE SCALE MILITARY EXERCISES "PEACE SHIELD '96"

Record ID: 639742

  • Title: UKRAINE: RUSSIAN AND U.S. TROOPS JOIN TOGETHER FOR FIRST TIME IN LARGE SCALE MILITARY EXERCISES "PEACE SHIELD '96"
  • Date: 3rd June 1996
  • Summary: YAVORIV AND LVIV, UKRAINE (JUNE 3, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) YAVORIV, UKRAINE 1. GV TROOPS ON PARADE GROUND 0.04 2. MV U.S. DEFENCE SECRETARY WILLIAM PERRY ADDRESSING TROOPS 0.09 3. LV TROOPS AT ATTENTION, SALUTING, MILITARY BAND PLAYS 0.14 4. GV FLAGS BEING RAISED 0.19 5. GV SOLDIERS INCLUDING UNITED NATIONS BLUE HELMETS MARCHING, LEGS MARCHING 0.28 6. LV MULTINATIONAL TROOPS MARCHING 0.33 7. LV PERRY AND GENERALS WATCHING PARADE 0.37 8. LV JEEPS AND AMPHIBIOUS VEHICLES 0.43 9. LV HELICOPTERS ON THE GROUND, TANKS 0.53 10. SLV OBSERVERS WATCHING MANOEUVRES 0.58 11. MACHINE FIRING FROM TROOP CARRIER, SMALL LANDING CRAFT ON RIVER / HELICOPTER FIRING 1.11 12. LV TROOPS ON BOATS / VIEWS OF TROOPS ON MANOEUVRES HELICOPTERS FIRING FLARES 1.25 13. LV OBSERVERS WALKING 1.33 14. GV MORE EXERCISES, SOLDIER FIRES MISSILE AT TANK HITS AND EXPLODES 1.42 15. MV U.S. TROOPS 1.44 16. MV PERRY WITH MILITARY HAT 1.50 17. GV OBSERVATION POST 1.53 LVIV, UKRAINE 18. GV PRESS CONFERENCE 1.58 19. SCU PERRY SPEAKING AT A PRESS CONFERENCE ABOUT UKRAINE BEING A NON-NUCLEAR POWER NOW (ENGLISH) 2.12 20. SCU RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINSTER PAVEL GRACHEV SAYING WHEN UKRAINE MAKES A MOVE FOR NATO MEMBERSHIP THEN RUSSIA WILL DECIDE WHAT TO DO (RUSSIAN) 2.23 21. CU FLAGS OF VARIOUS NATIONS 2.27 TRANSCRIPT SEQ. 19. PERRY, "IN THIS AGREEMENT, RUSSIA AND THE UNITED STATES RECOGNISE UKRAINE INDEPENDENCE, SOVEREIGNTY AND ITS BORDERS." Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 18th June 1996 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: YAVORIV AND LVIV, UKRAINE
  • City:
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Reuters ID: LVA3LB5IZAYBEUL33U1L9RRMVDNV
  • Story Text: - INTRO: Troops from Russia and the United States made history by joining forces in peacekeeping exercises in the Ukraine, once part of the old Soviet bloc. Defence ministers from both countries said the exercise, the first big multilateral operation on the territory of a former Soviet state, represented a groundbreaking move towards cooperation.

    ---------------------------------------------------- Only a few years ago Ukraine was part of the old communist Soviet bloc, dedicated to oppose the West in general and the United States in particular.

    But on Monday (June 3), it was the site of peacekeeping exercises by joint troops from Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and the United States (U.S) involving thousands of soldiers.

    "Five years ago we hardly could imagine this joint exercise," U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry told a news conference in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, "on these grounds where once forces trained for war, we now train our forces for the mission of peace." The Russian Defence minister Pavel Grachev hailed the exercise as a means of promoting understanding between countries once deeply divided by politics and ideology.

    "This exercise helps us to know each other better -- a chance for our officers and soldiers to cooperate more closely in peacekeeping operations," he said.

    The "Peace Shield 96" exercise, punctuated by the crash of artillery and machinegun fire, included 1,200 soldiers from the United States, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Moldova, Slovakia and Romania.

    Perry and Grachev also welcomed Ukraine's weekend announcement that the last nuclear missile had left the former Soviet republic.

    Ukraine, the second former Soviet former republic to disarm after Kazakhstan, inherited about 1,600 strategic warheads, 300 cruise missiles and 2,500 tactical nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union when it declared its independence in August, 1991.

    Comparing Moscow's acceptance of NATO's "Partnership for Peace" with its objection to the expansion of the Atlantic alliance, Grachev also said: "but I think these are quite different things -- the Partnership for Peace and the expansion of NATO." "When Ukraine makes a move for the NATO membership, then Russia will decide what to do," he said.


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