Kuchma fires armed forces chief (02/18/96)

Kuchma fires armed forces chief

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma dismissed Ukraine's armed forces chief of staff over objections to decentralization of the army's structure and further downsizing, government officials and non-government media said February 12 and 13.

Mr. Kuchma's weekend decree stated that Col.-Gen. Anatoliy Lopata, the second most important figure in the defense establishment, had been relieved of his duties and transferred to other, unspecified duties. "There were differences in the views of the (defense) minister and the chief of staff on the future of the armed forces," Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksander Kluban told a news conference. "The minister (Valeriy Shmarov) sees the armed forces being able to defend the country within its economic capability and does not favor building such an army that might extend to the shores of the English Channel."

However, on February 8, several days prior to the general's dismissal, a column in Vechirnyi Kyiv cited dissident generals as criticizing a proposed military doctrine for effectively turning over day-to-day control of the armed forces to Ukraine's regions and laying the groundwork for their complete ruination.

After his dismissal, Col.-Gen Lopata told the daily Kievskiye Viedomosti that he objected to plans to abolish Ukraine's military districts and was "happy that I defended my viewpoint." But top presidential adviser Volodymyr Horbulin, in an interview with the daily, said the general had "overstepped his authority and made public what amounted to state secrets."

Deputy Defense Minister Ivan Bizhan, a senior officer in the Soviet military, was named acting chief of staff. Ukraine's army is set to be cut from 470,000 to 350,000 by the year 2000. It is presently second in size to neighboring Russia's 1 million-plus troops in Europe.

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