Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine create a joint military brigade

The Lithuanian defence minister, Rasa Jukneviciene, and her Polish and Ukranian counterparts are to sign an accord on the sidelines of talks on Monday and Tuesday among European Nato members at the trans-Atlantic alliance’s Brussels headquarters.

“Lithuania supports this project which is expected to step up the strategic partnership of Lithuania and Poland,” the statement said.

“It is also expected that the engagement of Ukraine in the project would induce the country to intensify relations and cooperation with Nato,” it added.

Lithuania, a former Soviet republic, joined Nato in 2004, five years after ex-Communist Poland – a move that riled its Cold War-era master, Moscow.

They are among the staunchest supporters of ex-Soviet Ukraine, which is pushing to be let into Nato despite Moscow’s bitter opposition and jitters from several west European member states.

The three-way brigade will be known in army-speak as LITPOLUKRBRIG. The strength of a military brigade usually ranges from 2,000 to 5,000 combining several batallions of 600-1,500 troops, depending on the particular army’s tradition.

A spokesman for the ministry said that the brigade would include a multinational infantry unit, with shared costs, command and training, that could be deployed in multinational operations abroad.

It said that the fine details were still under negotiation, with Poland steering the planning.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine inherited a 780,000-strong military force on its territory, equipped with the third-largest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world. But the country signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and declared itself a neutral state.

The country, which now has armed forces totalling 191,000, has had a limited military partnership with Russia and a partnership with Nato since 1994. Ukraine has been playing an increasing role in peacekeeping operations, with Ukranian troops having been deployed in Kosovo, Lebanon and Iraq.

James Sherr, head of the Russia and Eurasia programme at Chatham House, said the move announced this week was partly a political one.

“It is a signal from all three states that Ukraine is a country that should have prospects of membership in Nato.”

Mr Sherr went on to say that before the Orange Revolution in 2006 - a peaceful revolt that brought Viktor Yuschenko to power - Ukraine was very close to joining Nato.

But he added that the revolution, combined with the Russia/Georgia war of 2008, "torpedoed" Ukraine's chances of joining the alliance,

"The war reinforced view of Nato that further enlargement of Nato in the east could be very harmful to the relationship with Russia," he said.

As a result, the formation of a tri-nation military brigade was unlikely to do anything to boost Ukraine's membership chances, said Mr Sherr, as too many countries were "emphatically not in favour" of Ukraine joining.

He went on to say that opinion in Ukraine was divided over whether the country should join Nato at all, and said that the popularity of the alliance had decreased markedly following the Balkan wars and the Russia/Georgia war.

“About 20 per cent of people in Ukraine are firmly in favour of Ukraine joining Nato, but about 50 per cent are opposed," he said.

He said that said that reasons for Ukraine wanting to join Nato related to the country’s geographical locaton.

“There is an understanding that Ukraine is in a complex and potentially dangerous political setting. It sits on a vitally important energy corridor.

“Ukrainians are also aware of their economic problems and that it would be very difficult for them to entirely meet all of their security needs on their own.”

But he pointed out that Ukraine is wary that becoming more closely aligned with Nato could completely alienate Russia, to which the country is economically and culturally tied.

He said that Russia was not reconciled to Ukraine’s independence, adding that just this year Vladimir Putin had referred to Ukraine as “little Russia”.

“Most Russians do not acknowledge that Ukraine is different,” he said.

“For Ukraine to adopt a course as a nation that would be dramatically and diametrically different to Russia would be seen as disturbing and threatening."

A spokesperson for the Ukranian embassy in London said the reasons for the country wanting to join Nato were obvious.

"Nato is security," he said.

"But Ukraine considers Nato not just from the 'take' perspective," he added.

"We are a strong contributor to European and global security. Ukraine is the only non-member state which takes part in all the Nato-led operations.

"The creation of LITPOLUKRBRIG is another step in our common effort of securing peace and stability in trouble spots."

He said that Ukraine always emphasised that its intention to join Nato was not directed against other countries, "Russia in particular."