Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko has called on Russia not to interfere in Ukraine's affairs ahead of presidential elections in the country.
He said this in an interview with Bloomberg ahead of his visit to
the United States, the Ukrainian service of the BBC reported on Monday.
“There should be less [Russian] interference in Ukraine’s affairs. I
mean our dear neighbor – Russia! I’d like the leadership of this
country to respect the rights of Ukrainians to the election of a person
who will lead Ukraine. We need no advice,” the Ukrainian service of the
BBC quoted Yuschenko as saying.
Yuschenko said that Russia “will have less influence on the January presidential elections.”
“But it is not because they are now less interested and their desire
is less. It is only because my nation became more independent,” he said.
Yuschenko said that “Ukraine should join NATO to protect its own borders.”
“I often get silence as an answer when there is talk in Europe about
Ukraine’s bid to join NATO,” he said, adding that “Europe should learn
to speak in one voice” in the issues of security.
“It’s not just Ukraine that would benefit from that – it’s Europe that would benefit the most,” Yuschenko said.
Commenting on last year’s military conflict in Georgia, he said that
a similar situation could happen with any other country, adding that
Europe had become more unstable, and warned against the creation of a
new iron curtain in Europe.
“What happened in Georgia is not a problem of Georgia, it is a
problem of the European Union. Georgia’s loss of border integrity means
the same may happen in Europe. We all became more vulnerable,”
Yuschenko said.
The presidential elections in Ukraine are scheduled for January 17, 2010.
Yuschenko is on a visit to the United States on September 21-23 to participate in the 64th session of the UN General Assembly.
