As more of the dirty and provocative escapades of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SOF) come to light, it is worth noting the recent account of Karen McTear, the British Royal Navy official who heads the NATO Liaison Office in Kiev. She made a point of the special close relationship and close cooperation of Ukraine’s SOF with NATO’s SOF. This was part of her otherwise brief summary of the “greatly increased cooperation” between NATO and Ukraine since the 2014 Maidan events, during a forum held last month, to celebrate the 25th anniversary (on July 9) of the NATO-Ukraine “Distinctive Partnership.”
A Janes defense news article from last March reviewing this relationship reports that the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense signed a Letter of Intent in 2015 for SOF cooperation “with NATO Special Operations Headquarters (NSHQ)—a move that included the planned certification of SOF units to work alongside their international partners in the NATO Response Force…. In recent years, Ukraine’s SOF have participated in an extensive number of joint training packages with NATO and non-NATO partners. Examples include multiple training programmes with the U.S. Special Operations Command Europe to `extend levels in co-operation and trust in order to defend more effectively against Russian aggression,’ according to an April 2021 meeting.”
