| 22.11.200915:23 (GMT) | The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine will send 30 members of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) special-task troops for participation in anti-piracy operation of the European Union, Atalanta, Rossiskaya gazeta reports.
The decision on sending servicemen of the SBU special-task division Alpha to area of the Horn of Africa, a peninsula in the North-Eastern Africa, opposite the Saudi Arabia Peninsula, was sounded by Foreign Minister of Ukraine Petr Poroshenko, the paper notes. He said that the number of the Ukrainian participants of Atalanta could increase in the long term due to an additional military intelligence unit.
One year participance in the EU operation will cost about $3.5 million, Rossiskaya gazeta writes. The Ukrainian parliament will soon consider corresponding amendments to the budget of current year, and also to the law on sending militaries abroad.
"Active participation of Ukraine in this project will allow, in our opinion, to expand the range of operation, will give us right to make offers with an aim of obtaining a possibility of accompanying the commercial ships, including those under the Ukrainian flag, and also those which have Ukrainians as a significant part of crew members,” Poroshenko said.
For the first time Poroshenko spoke about the intention to send the Ukrainian SBU special-task troops to African waters two weeks ago, however, without revealing the details.
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