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Putin, Yanukovich agree to exchange state visits

Russian President suggested discussing several areas of cooperation, including in the military sphere

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

YALTA, the Crimea, July 12 (Itar-Tass) — Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian host, President Viktor Yanukovich, on Thursday agreed to exchange state visits.

“We agreed to exchange state visits in the near future: the Ukrainian president will visit Russia this autumn, while the Russian president is expected to visit Ukraine in 2013,” Yanukovich said at a meeting of the Russian-Ukrainian inter-state commission held shortly after his talks with Putin.

“Each our meeting can be described as fruitful talks on wide range of issues designed to achieve a result,” the Ukrainian president emphasized.

“Some areas of our cooperation need to be adjusted with account taken of the present-day realities. We should also mark areas of application of our efforts with an aim to promote the Russian-Ukrainian dialogue,” Yanukovich stressed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested discussing several areas of cooperation, including in the military sphere, at a meeting of the Russian-Ukrainian inter-state commission on Thursday.

Putin said the sides had made some progress since the Commission held its last meeting two years before.

“There’s a number of proposals and projects which we should push forward,” Putin said.

“Naturally, we are going to discuss military-technological cooperation which offers many possibilities,” Putin said.

“We should have a detailed discussion of our plans. The state of our Armed Forces and the development of technology intensive sectors of our economies will depend on that,” Putin emphasized.

The Russian president said a treaty on the Russian Navy presence in the Crimea would also be an item on the agenda.

The topics are expected to include some international issues in the light of Ukraine’s OSCE presidency in 2013.

In the meantime, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian host, President Viktor Yanukovich, on Thursday agreed to exchange state visits.

“We agreed to exchange state visits in the near future: the Ukrainian president will visit Russia this autumn, while the Russian president is expected to visit Ukraine in 2013,” Yanukovich said at a meeting of the Russian-Ukrainian inter-state commission held shortly after his talks with Putin.

“Each our meeting can be described as fruitful talks on a wide range of issues designed to achieve a result,” the Ukrainian president emphasized.

“Some areas of our cooperation need to be adjusted with account taken of the present-day realities. We should also mark areas of application of our efforts with an aim to promote the Russian-Ukrainian dialogue,” Yanukovich stressed.

Earlier on Thursday, Yanukovich held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Office of Roosevelt in the Livadia Palace.

The two leaders had posed for pictures before the talks started.

Viktor Yanukovich welcomed his Russian counterpart at the Palace entrance.

The presidents allowed the photographers to make several photos and headed for the Office of Roosevelt for talks.

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