KIEV. Nov 23 (Interfax-AVN) - The establishment of Ukrainian advanced defense forces may be postponed sine die due to lack of finance, a source in the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) committee for national security and defense told Interfax-Military News Agency on Friday.
The 2002 draft budget approved by the parliament on the first reading allocates no funds for that purpose though the backbone of the forces is have been established by 2003, the source said. The plan for this year was not implemented either for the state budget provided only a bit over UAH52m (USD9.85m), which makes almost 38 percent of the needed sum.
Ukrainian President Leonid Kushma told a session of the Defense Ministry board on November 14 that establishment of the forces was the main task of the ministry in 2002 and that the forces would be a prototype of the future Ukrainian army.
The level of the forces' combat readiness was supposed to reach 20 to 25 percent next year, a spokesman for the ministry told Interfax-AVN. In order to reach the goal the authorities planned to man one mechanized battalion in all brigades and divisions, one squadron in an army aviation brigade and one battery in a SAM brigade. The measure requires over UAH266m (USD50.38m) which are not envisaged in the 2002 budget.
The delay in the program's implementation might be avoided if the forces get the major part of UAH709.3m (USD134.33m) which the president asked the parliament to raise for the needs of national defense in 2002, a high-ranking official of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry told Interfax-AVN.