J9 Secretariat
Permanent Joint Headquarters
(United Kingdom)
Northwood Headquarters
Sandy Lane
NORTHWOOD
Middlesex
HA6 3HP
Email
: UKStratCom-PJHQ-J9-
xxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx
Ref: FOI2022/08365
31 August 2022
Ms Nina Cross
request-877749-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Dear Ms Cross,
Thank you for your email of 12th July 2022 requesting the information as follows:
“
1. Please identify the documentation or procedure that exists to demonstrate if the
Ukrainian individuals arriving for training in the UK entered the Ukrainian military on a
voluntary basis and not through conscription?
2. Please identify the documentation or procedure that exists to demonstrate that the
Ukrainian individuals arriving for training in the UK are doing so on a voluntary basis.
3. Please identify any policy or documentation that would prevent Ukrainian individuals
arriving for military training in the UK from applying for asylum?
4. Please identify if the movements of the Ukrainian individuals will be restricted to the
military basis designated for training or whether they will have the right or ability of any free
movement?
5. What procedures, if any, will be carried out by the British authorities to identify where
Ukrainian individuals are sent following their training in the UK and what happens to these
individuals once they are sent back to Ukraine?
6. Is there any policy or document showing that only Ukrainian men will be trained in the
UK or does the training include Ukrainian women?”
We are treating your correspondence as a request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) 2000.
A search for the information has now been completed within the Ministry of Defence, and
we can confirm that some of the information in scope of your request is held.
1. Please identify the documentation or procedure that exists to demonstrate if the
Ukrainian individuals arriving for training in the UK entered the Ukrainian military on
a voluntary basis and not through conscription?
We can confirm that no documentation or procedure exists for assessing the status of
individuals sent to the UK by the Ukrainian Military.
2. Please identify the documentation or procedure that exists to demonstrate that the
Ukrainian individuals arriving for training in the UK are doing so on a voluntary
basis.
We can confirm that no documentation or procedure exists for assessing the status of
individuals sent to the UK by the Ukrainian Military.
3. Please identify any policy or documentation that would prevent Ukrainian individuals
arriving for military training in the UK from applying for asylum?
This would contravene the 1954 Refugee Convention of which the UK is a signatory, as
such no UK policy exists which would prevent individuals applying for asylum.
4. Please identify if the movements of the Ukrainian individuals will be restricted to the
military basis designated for training or whether they will have the right or ability of
any free movement?
The Ukrainian personnel are to remain in camp or on designated exercise areas
throughout the training package.
5. What procedures, if any, will be carried out by the British authorities to identify
where Ukrainian individuals are sent following their training in the UK and what
happens to these individuals once they are sent back to Ukraine?
The UK does not track where individuals are sent once they have returned to the Ukrainian
Military’s Duty of Care.
6. Is there any policy or document showing that only Ukrainian men will be trained in
the UK or does the training include Ukrainian women?
There is no UK policy determining the gender requirements of individuals sent to the UK
by the Ukrainian military for training.
To note, we received an email from you, dated 22nd August, to withdraw the following
question from your original request:
“What is the standard length of time a British soldier would train before being deployed to
the front lines in a war zone?”
If you have any queries regarding the content of this letter, please contact this office in the
first instance.
If you wish to complain about the handling of your request, or the content of this response,
you can request an independent internal review by contacting the Information Rights
Compliance team, Ground Floor, MOD Main Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail
CIO-
xxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx). Please note that any request for an internal review should be made
within 40 working days of the date of this response.
If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may raise your complaint
directly to the Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the
Freedom of Information Act. Please note that the Information Commissioner will not
normally investigate your case until the MOD internal review process has been completed.
The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Further details of the role and
powers of the Information Commissioner can be found on the Commissioner's website at
https://ico.org.uk/. Yours sincerely,
PJHQ J9 Secretariat