Ukrainian Humanitarian Vice Prime Minister Volodymyr Semynozhenko invites discussions of the idea of creation of the union of three states - Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus.
Volodymyr Semynozhenko gave his position during a political talk show on the Ukraina television channel on Friday evening.
The talk show anchorman suggested discussing an idea by Russian Duma deputy Yevgeny Fedorov, who heads the Duma committee for economic policy and entrepreneurship, concerning the creation of a union state of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus with the capital city in Kyiv.
In March 2010, Fedorov sent out letters with a proposal to discuss the idea with the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
The anchorman suggested the audience of the talk show to vote for the idea.
Volodymyr Semynozhenko suggested the anchorman reformulating the question and suggest the audience to vote on the idea of creating a union of three states – Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus.
62% of the audience voted for the union of three states.
"I would treat this, you may call this a provocation or an occasion for discussions – which is the future of Ukraine, which is the basic value, this is our Ukrainian topic. The occasion is given. Let us think about the strategy of the development of the country," said Semynozhenko.
In his opinion, the world sees the process of creation of multi-polar formations and countries creating the centers of influence will have advantages.
"Ukraine suddenly sees a dilemma, and I want this to be a topic for discussing too: to probably appear one day on the outskirt of the center of influence being formed by the European Union, or [to be part of] a new center of influence being formed in the eastern part," he said.
He said the problem of the country’s integration is one of the concerns of the deputy prime minister in charge of science-technical and humanitarian questions.
Volodymyr Semynozhenko said the only way to revive the economy of Ukraine is increasing the share of the science-intensive industries. According to him, the only chance for this is represented by the cooperation and integration with the countries of the post-Soviet space.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has called on Ukraine to join a customs union within the Common Economic Space with Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, as this move could allow lower natural gas price for Ukraine.
