On September 6, 2019 in the National Institute for Strategic Studies (NISS) a meeting occurred between Director of the NISS Oleksandr Lytvynenko and representatives of the Institute for Security Governance Phil Jones, Ted Donelli and Brad Fisher. The meeting was also attended by Helena Savruk, Deputy Director of the NISS, Andriy Smenkovskyi, Deputy Director of the NISS, Valentyn Horovenko, Head of Department of Military and Military-Economic Policy, Sergiy Vorontsov,Deputy Head of Department of of Issues of Foreign Policy and International Security, and Oksana Shcherba, leading specialist of the Department of External Communications.
The meeting was dedicated to the discussion on development of the new National Security Strategy of Ukraine, and was advisory in nature. The discussion concerned the form of the Strategy document, as well as its key characteristics related to the recent changes in political climate of Ukraine. Thus, inter alia, the following elements are regarded as main priorities in the development the National Security Strategy: the document’s comprehensibility by common citizens, minimization of bureaucratic terminology and lowering the aggressive tone in political rhetoric towards Russia, which should be replaced by rhetoric of dialogue combined with more assertive political action. According to Director of the Institute Oleksandr Lytvynenko, the following document is political and not administrative by nature. The key points of the document refer to values, security and prosperity of the Ukrainian state, and deal with objective achievements in these realms while taking into account external political environment.
To sum up, during the meeting the leadership and experts of the NISS have been advised by their colleagues from the Institute for Security Governance, and obtained further assistance from the following analytical institution.