Yushchenko gives a state guarantee to Russia

The Ukrainian territory will not be used against Russia, stated President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko in his interview to La Croix.

 

‘We give our state guarantee, - said the President, - that the Ukrainian territory will not be used against Russia’.

 

‘Our Constitution prohibits location of foreign troops on our territory. 15 years ago, we refused from nuclear weapons, we had,’ reminded the Head of Ukrainian state, as gazeta.ru reports.

 

Our tendency to join NATO, according to Yushchenko, is ‘a policy, not directed against someone but which meets our national priorities.’

 

As ForUm reported earlier, Ukrainian leaders more than once stated that Ukraine’s joining NATO is not directed against Russia or its interests.

 

In turn, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said that the alliance is not planning to allocate own bases in Sevastopol when in 2017 BSF of RF leaves this location according to the agreement between Ukraine and Russia. ‘Undoubtedly, no. But first of all I would like to say that we are aside from any bilateral discussions between Ukraine and Russia regarding the future of BSF. This question doesn’t concern NATO, therefore Secretary General and members stay aside,’ said Scheffer.

 

Earlier, being the President of Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin stated that NATO’s approaching Russian borders is understood as the direct threat to RF. Moreover, Vladimir Putin said that the statement that these processes are not directed against Russia, “can not satisfy them”.