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What did 16 March 2018 change for Kyiv's military?
Summary
A look back at the appointment of a commander for the new Joint Forces Staff, and the wider run of decisions in Kyiv and Washington around it.
What changed in Ukraine's command structure on 16 March 2018? President Petro Poroshenko appointed Serhiy Nayev as commander of the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces, a body created to replace the ATO Staff. The appointment marked the handover from the headquarters of the Anti-Terrorist Operation to the new structure.
A week of institutional change
The appointment came at the end of a busy few days. On 15 March 2018, the Verkhovna Rada dismissed Valeriya Hontareva as head of the National Bank of Ukraine and appointed Yakiv Smolii in her place. The change at the central bank was a major personnel decision, taken one day before the military appointment.
On the same day, Poroshenko signed amendments to the law on the social and legal protection of servicemen and their families. The changes concerned what the text described as removing social injustice in granting military personnel the right to cash compensation for renting housing.
A smaller, more practical announcement came on 14 March 2018. The National Bank presented new coins in denominations of 2, 5 and 10 hryvnias and said it would stop minting small-denomination coins.
Sanctions from Washington
Beyond Kyiv, the United States acted on 15 March 2018. Under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, the Trump administration imposed financial sanctions on 19 Russian nationals, including 12 of those indicted in the Special Counsel investigation. The law, known as CAATSA, had been signed by President Donald Trump on 2 August 2017 after passing the Senate 98–2 and the House 419–3. It imposed sanctions on Iran, North Korea and Russia, and works by preventing U.S. companies from doing business with sanctioned entities.
Why the date stands out
Taken together, the decisions of 14 to 16 March 2018 show several strands at once: a restructured military command, a new central bank governor, adjustments to benefits for servicemen and a change to the national coinage. The creation of the Joint Staff and the naming of its commander on 16 March 2018 was the most direct change to how Ukraine's armed forces were led.
