KIEV, April 01. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine should be integrated into European security systems, Ukraine’s former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is running for president with the Batkivshchina (Fatherland) party, told a news conference on Tuesday.

“Ukraine should be a part of the united Europe, a part of the European Union,” she said. “I will do my best to achieve this goal. Ukraine’s security should be ensured by means of integration into European security systems. I stand for Ukraine’s participation in collective security systems.

“I think that Ukraine’s next president must be gradual and evolutionary in ensuring Ukraine’s participation in the defence system of European society,” she noted, adding that she stood for Ukraine’s further integration with the European Union. 

When asked about her stance on the Crimean issue, Tymoshenko said she had her own “plan how to return Crimea.” “First and foremost, it provides for detailed and efficient negotiations with the leaders of Western countries so that they never take a decision recognizing that Crimea is not the Ukrainian territory,” she stressed. “Apart from that, we stand for further sanctions to force Russia give Crimea back.”

“Ukraine should engage the best law experts to word its claims to Russia’s overseas property, including on the territory of Ukraine,” Tymoshenko said, adding she was categorically against “any bargaining with Russia, especially on matters of the Ukrainian domestic policy,” such as federalization or “aspects of the humanitarian policy.