Candidate for Ukrainian President Arseniy Yatseniuk has said that a meaningless foreign policy has been conducted in Ukraine over the whole period of its independence, which resulted in the loss by the country of its chance to become one of the world's most influential states.
His press service quoted him as saying this during a video link meeting in Bila Tserkva, Kyiv region, on Tuesday.
Yatseniuk commented on how he would correct the country’s mistakes in foreign policy if he is elected head of state.
"A mistake is when my ten-year-old child writes anything wrong in the copybook. It can be corrected. But criminal negligence and stupidity are not a mistake. The fate of the country is at stake. A meaningless foreign policy has been conducted according to the principle – ‘whether we’ll sell ourselves to the West, or give ourselves to Russia,’" he said.
Yatseniuk said that his task is "not to lie about [Ukraine’s] accession to the EU, as others have been lying."
"Can anybody can travel to the EU with his or her passport and without any visa? Nobody can. It turned out that the Berlin Wall has not disappeared, as it was neatly put up on the border between Ukraine and the European Union. We are hugging one another, kissing each other, and are talking much about democracy. We’re being told that a country that has not developed will develop. But I want less statements and a more clear approach," he said.
He said he was indignant that the "European identity" of Ukraine had not been mentioned in the declaration signed after a meeting between Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso during the recent Ukraine-EU summit.
Yatseniuk said that in its relations with the European Union, Ukraine should have a visa-free regime with EU countries.
"Europeans freely travel to Ukraine, so Ukrainians should also freely travel to the European Union," he said.
