11 June 2004 16:26
Ukraine opposition leader, Russian envoy discuss economic union
[Presenter] A Ukrainian opposition leader [and head of the Our Ukraine bloc], Viktor Yushchenko, met Russian
Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin in Kiev today. They discussed, among other things, economic problems. The
ambassador was persuading the former prime minister [Yushchenko] of the advisability of Kiev's integrating into the
Single Economic Space [between Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan], which will make the double taxation of Russian
oil impossible. The Russian ambassador and the opposition leader said that there exist no political or interstate
problems but there are unsettled problems in the economic sector alone.
[Yushchenko, in Russian] We have been unanimous that Ukraine and Russia are strategic partners, eternal neighbours
and that even problems that are arising or have arisen in the history suggest solutions.
[Chernomyrdin, in Russian] Our contacts always yield results. We can disagree on something but we must understand one
another, [we must understand] where there are disagreements, if at all. What we sometimes lack is this understanding. We
had a very important conversation today.
[TV 5 Kanal] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
