From the Jamestown Foundation: On June 22 Ukrainian Naval Headquarters confirmed unofficially that the country’s political deadlock has doomed the multinational military exercise Sea Breeze-2009. According to the Ukrainian headquarters sources, the U.S. Armed Forces European Command (EUCOM) and the U.S. Sixth Fleet notified Ukraine’s defense ministry on June 17 officially that foreign military units had to cancel their participation because the Ukrainian parliament failed to authorize the entry of such units on the national territory for Sea Breeze-2009 (UNIAN, Ukrayinska Pravda, June 22) . . .

Sea Breeze is a joint and combined naval, ground, and air exercise, U.S.-led and mainly U.S.-financed, lasting two weeks in July. It normally involves more than 2,000 military personnel from about fifteen NATO members and partner countries by invitation . . .

Although originating in the overall framework of NATO’s Partnership for Peace program, Sea Breeze is not a NATO exercise. It is, rather, a joint Ukraine-U.S. exercise, to which other countries are invited to participate. Oblivious to such distinctions, local protesters and their handlers use the opportunity to demonize NATO.