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Ukraine must proclaim its non-aligned status, Russian envoy says

Konstantin Gavrilov emphasized that Russia would insist that NATO publicly declares its rejection of admission of Ukraine as its member

VIENNA, February 16. /TASS/. Russia will insist that NATO publicly declares its rejection of admitting Ukraine, and Kiev publicly proclaims its neutral and non-aligned status, says head of the Russian delegation to the Vienna talks on military security and arms control Konstantin Gavrilov.

"Russia will insist that NATO publicly declares its rejection of admission of Ukraine as its member; Kiev, in turn, must proclaim its neutral, non-aligned status, as it was stipulated in the July 16, 1990 Declaration of state sovereignty of Ukraine," Gavrilov said in his statement.

He noted that the necessity of implementation of the mentioned Declaration was cemented in the August 24, 1991 Act of Declaration of Independence. The current Ukrainian Constitution, adopted on June 28, 1996, stipulates that the Verkhovna Rada was guided by the abovementioned Act when adopting it, Gavrilov added.

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