Ukraine is moving steadfastly along the road of European integration, Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych has said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
As the same time, Ukraine also needs to maintain strong ties with Russia, the Yanukovych said. Given Ukraine’s location and its desire to profit from Russian energy shipments to the EU, "we are doomed to keep a good balance," he said.
Yanukovych described the previous stand-off between Ukraine and Russia as "not only detrimental for our two countries, but for the rest of the world." He said trade between Ukraine and Russia, which had fallen sharply, was now "getting back on track."
Meanwhile, European integration is an important instrument for Ukraine to modernize the country, to bring it closer to modern European standards. It is "a process Ukraine should undergo as quickly as possible," he said.
While commenting on the plans for the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline across the Black Sea to Europe, the Ukrainian president said the pipeline, which would circumvent Ukraine, would be more expensive to build and less safe than improving the existing pipeline network in Ukraine.
As relations between Ukraine and Russia are now on a firm footing, there is no need for South Stream, the president said. In addition, Yanukovych said Ukraine had no intention of banning grain exports or introducing any quotas.
When asked about the allegations that the president and his team were limiting freedom of speech in Ukraine, Yanukovych acknowledged that there were problems. "Like many post-Soviet countries, Ukraine has certain diseases," he said. But, they aren’t systemic, he said. "There have been som
