You're reading: Yuschenko not to sign 2010 budget envisaging UAH 8.3 billion for army

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has declared he won't sign the state budget for 2010 if it envisages defense spending of only UAH 8.3 billion.

“I will not sign the budget formed by the government for 2010, which
projects the financing for the army at UAH 8.3 billion,” the president
said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.

“This is a budget that aims to wreck Ukraine’s armed forces,” the
president said, adding that this level of financing discredits
soldiers, officers and the state’s defense functions.

Yuschenko stressed that he will demand that the government and the
parliament revise the level of spending on Ukraine’s Armed Forces for
2010.