You're reading: Yanukovych’s address: Ukraine welcomes plans on joint missile defense system involving Russia, NATO

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has welcomed the plans about the possible establishment of a joint missile defense system with the participation of Russia and NATO.

"The general situation on the continent contributes to the emergence of such large-scale security projects as the formation of a joint missile defense system with the participation of Russia and NATO. The Russian Federation, for its part, has offered to start considering the prospects for visa-free regime and the establishment of a common economic space between a number of post-Soviet countries and the EU. Though the current stage apparently involves the preliminary political assessment of these plans, rather than their transfer to a practical level, this is generally positive trend, which in short term will create a favorable environment around Ukraine’s security and opens up new opportunities for economic interaction as a bridge between East and West," reads the president’s annual address to parliament