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Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko believes that Russia needs a democratic Ukraine.

Yushchenko announced this on Inter TV channel on Friday evening. "Russia needs most a democratic Ukraine," he said. Russia is Ukraine’s strategic partner, but these relations should not obstruct Ukraine’s rapprochement with the European Union, the outgoing Ukrainian president believes.

He also said that the Russian authorities are making a mistake by not accepting a Ukrainian president who pursues democratic policiesestablishing Ukraine’s national state. "Any president appearing in Ukraine who will pursue a policy of establishing the Ukrainian nation, democratization and rapprochement with Europe will not suit the Russian authorities. This is a big mistake," he said.

Yushchenko also said that the presidential candidates who qualified for the runoff, Victor Yanukovych, and Yulia Tymoshenko, will not take over the policiesthat he supported. "Apparently, the political course will be changed," he said. This is "a threat to national revival, democratic development, freedom of speech and choice," the president said.