UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT WILL BUILD HARMONIOUS RELATIONS BOTH WITH EU AND RUSSIA, PRIME MINISTER SAYS

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The question whom Ukraine is going to integrate with - Russia or the European Union - is inopportune, as Ukraine is a big and powerful state that may build harmonious relations both with its neighbor countries and the EU, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko says. She announced this in Brussels Monday, UKRINFORM correspondents reported.

Asked about a certain confrontation between Ukraine's integration with the EU and a strengthening of relations with the Russian Federation, she noted that in 2004, when the democratic team came to power in Ukraine, a real European integration started. Eurointegration is supported by the majority of political forces and population in Ukraine. Tymoshenko expressed confidence that Ukraine would obtain full-fledged membership in the EU.

The Prime Minister recognized that currently Ukraine is 100-percent dependent on Russian energy carriers. At the same time, the two countries have close cooperation ties in different branches of industry, from outer space to machine-building. They are important both to Ukraine and to Russia.

"We will develop harmonious relations with the Russian Federation. There is no doubt about that. The only question is about quality of this cooperation. We cannot agree to Ukraine's inferior role," Tymoshenko stated. The Prime Minister noted that Russia and Ukraine naturally have different economic potentials, but they are absolutely equal in political sense

UKRINFORM