Moscow, May 17 (Interfax) - The development of full-fledged relations with Russia will not create any obstacles to Ukraine, if it wishes to take the road of European integration, President Dmitry Medvedev has said.
"It cannot obstruct anything. If the Ukrainian nation decides that it wants to seek membership in the European Union – it is your choice," he said in an interview with Ukrainian journalists ahead of his visit to Ukraine
"In any case any choice should be simply reasonable," he said. "We are all parties to European integration. I want to remind you that we in the Russian Federation have trade turnover of $250 billion with the European Union. This is an impressive figure, therefore we are very closely integrated with Europe," he said.
"If you believe that it is of interest to you, you should be doing that. And it is apparent that all of us belong to the European family. It’s normal. If we are speaking of membership in the European Union, it is a question to Ukraine and the EU," he added.
In any case "I would follow very closely what is now happening in the EU because one should be trying to get there where it is good and calm" Medvedev said. "European colleagues will have to cope with the difficulties they are having, including issues of the euro zone, the insolvency of several countries and so on," he said.
"In turn they will be looking at economically attractive potential members of the European Union. Hence the process is clearly slow, and its is quite complex, but it is Ukraine’s choice. It is a question of national, economic and other policies," he said.
