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Yanukovich to follow national interests at Ukraine-EU summit

“We did not have a clear intention to initial /the agreement/ exactly during the summit,” he said

KIEV, November 24 (Itar-Tass) — At the Ukraine-EU summit due on December 19 in Kiev President Viktor Yanukovich will act in compliance with Ukraine’s national interests, Ukrainian presidential aide Anna German said on Thursday commenting on information in media that Viktor Yanukovich may participate in a meeting of the Interstate Council of the Eurasian Economic Community on December 4 in Moscow.

“We should mind the fact that today we are at a decision-making stage of Ukraine’s negotiations with the EU and the Russian Federation,” she said. “Like it happens in alike situations, it becomes necessary to make unexpected moves on the diplomatic chess board. It is not always possible or necessary to explain them.”

“The society should simply trust the president. To trust that he is doing everything to assure best conditions for his country, to believe that the president will make a move in the direction, which is most suitable from the point of view of Ukraine’s national interests,” she continued.

Earlier, some media referred to secretariat of EurAsEC and reported that Yanukovich will participate in a meeting of the Interstate Council on December 19 in Moscow. A Ukraine-EU summit is due on the same day. The summit is expected to initial the Agreement on Association in the European Union.

In Brussels, Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin told reporters that Ukraine did not have a clear intention to initial the Agreement on Association in the European Union during the Ukraine-EU summit due on December 19.

“We did not have a clear intention to initial /the agreement/ exactly during the summit,” he said. “The idea was to announce completion of the negotiations.”

The initiating itself will become possible following the technical work on the agreement’s text, he explained, but did not specify how much time this work may take.

Yanukovich claims that as of now the only item of the Agreement on Association in the European Union, which still lacks approval, is the one about Ukraine’s future membership.

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