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OSCE special envoy for Ukraine plans to prepare Kiev for NATO, EU accession

Petr Maresh is to "maintain close contact with the Ukrainian authorities"

MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/. Petr Maresh, the special representative of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for Ukraine, has stated that he hopes to prepare Kiev "for future partnership and membership in the EU and NATO."

"We have 24 projects operating in Ukraine, all of which are in demand by the Ukrainian side. My task will be to coordinate these projects and prepare a new one. I spoke with Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, and she emphasized that I should maintain close contact with the Ukrainian authorities," he said in an interview with Izvestiya.

"I will not send them F-16s, Abrams tanks, or missiles, but I will prepare them for Ukraine's future partnership and membership in the EU and NATO - these are my tasks," Maresh said.

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