Kyiv's neighbourhood hardens: Skripal fallout and a Polish missile deal
A look back at how the Skripal poisoning reactions and Poland's Patriot purchase framed security debate in the days before 29 March 2018.
What did the security picture around Ukraine look like on 29 March 2018? The reports from the preceding days point to a region reacting sharply to Russia and strengthening its defences.
On 27 March 2018, NATO and the government of Australia expelled Russian diplomats in response to the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. The step placed the incident firmly in the realm of allied diplomacy, with coordinated action beyond a single capital.
On 28 March 2018, Viktor Yushchenko, the former Ukrainian President, who was himself poisoned in September 2004, called for military action against Russia to be considered. His comment came from personal experience and from a former head of state, not from the government in Kyiv, and it went further than the diplomatic expulsions announced a day earlier.
The same day, Poland signed a deal with the United States to buy a Patriot missile system for US$4.75 billion. For Ukraine's western neighbour, that was a major defence purchase from Washington.
Why it matters
Taken together, these reports show two tracks running side by side: a diplomatic response to the Skripal poisoning, led by NATO and Australia, and a defence build-up in Poland. Yushchenko's remark showed that Ukrainian public figures were weighing in on how firm the response to Moscow should be. The choices made in those days, between expulsions, rhetoric and procurement, set the terms in which Kyiv's partners discussed Russia at the end of March 2018.
