"I am very disappointed with the 'unfriendly nature' of the address of Russia's President Dmitriy Medvedev, says Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko in his response to his Russian counterpart.

"I cannot but agree with the fact that there are serious problems between our states, but it is surprisingly that you fully exclude Russia's responsibility for that," Yushchenko noted adding that Ukraine 'has never budged from the principles of friendship and partnership fixed in the Great Agreement of 1997' and 'was doing its best for fruitful, mutually beneficial development of bilateral relations'.

As referred to Moscow's rebuke about Ukraine-Georgia relations, the Head of State has once again reminded that Georgia is not under sanctions of any international organization, so the accusations of allegedly illegal arms delivery to Tbilisi are groundless.

"Ukraine's position regarding the last year events in Georgia is well-known and coincides with the stands of actually all world countries. It lies in absolute respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders of the Georgian people or any other sovereign state," the Ukrainian President said.

"Ukraine's course towards integration with NATO could not be a subject to criticism from Russia, as 'the right to choose international means of national security, in particular, the participation in military-political unions, is an integral element of state sovereignty of any country, and Russia must respect it', Yushchenko underscored.

He referred to the law on the fundamentals of national security of Ukraine passed in 2003, which envisages the country's direct integration with NATO, right up to the direct membership.

The President has reiterated that Ukraine's aspiration for achieving membership in the Alliance 'is by no means directed against Russia, while a final decision on NATO accession will be made only after a nationwide referendum'.

In his respond to Medvedev, Yushchenko also said that Ukraine sticks to its international treaty obligations on a temporary stay of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in the territory of Ukraine till May 28, 2017 and it completely fulfills the provisions of the relevant basic agreements of 1997. "At the same time, I should state about the existence of serious problems in implementing the basic treaties on the part of the Russian Federation regarding land, real estate, radio frequencies, navigation facilities etc. Over the whole period of stay of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine, the fleet command has repeatedly violated the bilateral agreements and Ukrainian laws the Ukrainian party has constantly informed the Russian one about'.

The Ukrainian President also disagrees with a position of his Russian counterpart regarding the Ukrainian gas transit system and his evaluations of reliability of gas transit to Europe, Russia's stand regarding language issues and the Holodomor 1932-1933.

Yushchenko expressed confidence that 'solving the current problems of Ukraine-Russia bilateral relations requires intensive work', so Moscow's decision to postpone the arrival of Russia's new ambassador to Ukraine will surely not promote a constructive development of relations.

"Ukraine further adheres to a broad cooperation with Russia based on mutual respect, equality, by way of holding a constrictive dialogue, including at the top level," the Ukrainian President stressed.

"Unfortunately, I had earlier received in response only invitations to participate in horse races for a prize of the Russian President and other multilateral events. I hope this time your reaction to it will be more constructive," Yushchenko wrote.

"I believe in a good future for Ukraine-Russia relations based on deep traditions of friendship and neighborhood between people of our countries and which seem to be stronger than the interests of certain political circles and do not depend on situational environment of a political moment," the Ukrainian President underscored.
 
Source: UKRINFORM

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