NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer (right) and Ukrainian First Deputy Foreign Minister Volodymyr Khandogy
Photo: Reuters
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Ukraine Has Eye on NATO and Russia
Ukraine will consider Russia's security concerns as it integrates with NATO, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said in an interview with the UNIAN information agency. He added that Ukraine has no alternative to NATO membership. “In the bigger picture, there is no alternative, and so we are not talking about the question of whether or not to enter NATO, but about what policy model should ne developed. When we have answered that, we will move very easily into a policy of integration into the collective of North Atlantic structures that ensure a policy of defense and security,” Yushchenko said.
At the same time, the Ukrainian president noted, the country has to keep its good neighbor policy in mind as it joins international organizations. “Obviously, neither Ukraine nor Russia intends to establish policy against anyone,” Yushchenko continued. He recalled Russian President Vladimir Putin's statements while visiting Bulgaria that Russia “understands the choice of the Bulgarian authorities and people of membership in NATO and the EU.”
Last week, Yushchenko, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko and Supreme Rada speaker Arseny Yatsenyuk sent a letter to NATO headquarters in Brussels containing an official announcement of Ukraine's accession to the action plan for alliance membership. Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin stated in response to that letter that Russia may reconsider its relations with Ukraine if the latter should join NATO.
www.kommersant.com
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