You're reading: Turchynov: Ukraine can complete European integration reforms in five years

Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Oleksandr Turchynov said he believes Ukraine can conduct European integration reforms over a period of five years.

“We have a five-year European integration plan,” the Ukrainian parliamentary press service quoted Turchynov as saying in an interview with the Baltic information agency BNS on Aug. 18.

“Ukraine should become a member of the European Union and NATO,” Turchynov said, adding that he believes it will be a guarantee against Russia’s “aggressive ambitions.”

Turchynov said most Ukrainians now understand that Ukraine needs to enter NATO because “it is a way to protect Ukraine from Russia’s aggressive policy.”

Turchynov is on a working visit to Lithuania on Aug. 17-19 to participate in the conference of the speakers of the parliaments of the Nordic and Baltic countries in Palanga.

At this conference, he plans to give a speech at a meeting entitled “The EU Eastern Partnership from Vilnius to Riga.”