You're reading: Ukraine, Russia sign joint statement on improving European security system

Ukrainian and Russian Presidents Viktor Yanukovych and Dmitry Medvedev have signed a joint statement on improving the European security system.

The statement was signed after the third meeting of the Ukrainian-Russian interstate commission in Kyiv on Monday.

Moscow and Kyiv called for the removal of visa barriers and the creation of a common space for contacts between citizens on the European continent, according to the joint statement by the Ukrainian and Russian presidents.

The two leaders intend to "actively promote the creation of a common space of legally binding guarantees of equal and indivisible security for all states of the Euro-Atlantic space without exception, including reliable security guarantees to countries that voluntarily gave up their nuclear arsenals, and non-aligned states," the statement says.

"The sides agreed that such an approach could become the basis for the further development of a constructive dialog on a wide range of security issues: arms control and confidence-building measures, the maintenance of cooperation between all organizations involved in the field of security, the development of common criteria for resolving conflicts exclusively by peaceful means on the basis of international law, as well as part of the fight against global security threats, "the document says.

The statement also says that Russia and Ukraine "support the development of a harmonious world order based on a central coordinating role of the UN, interdependence and cooperation in order to solve common problems, an inseparable part of which should be a common space of security and stability from Vancouver to Vladivostok."