>STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG
>
>(Yet another step closer to Moscow, by the exact route used by Napoleon
>and Hitler. But first NATO's 'expertise' will be employed to crush
>internal opposition - a majority in both houses of parliament oppose
>both Kuchma and NATO memebership, and were recently forcibly ousted from
>a protest in the parliament building.
>Reminiscent of Boris Yeltsin ringing the Russian parliament buiding with
>tanks - remember that? - and firing on the legally elected speaker and
>assistant speaker, killing perhaps hundreds of protesters holed up
>there. Bill Clinton's and England's John Major's response to this -
>truly unprecedented - destruction of a nation's parliament by the
>military? They both applauded Boris Yeltsin as the "saviour of Russian
>democracy," just as Clinton later commented on Yeltsin's first Chechnya
>campaign by calling him "the Abraham Lincoln of his country."
>But, quick, wipe all the above from your memory; we're not supposed to
>remember any of those things.)
>______________________________________
>Tuesday February 29 8:42 AM ET
>Ukraine Hosts Top NATO Officials, Eyes Closer Ties
>By Dmitry Solovyov
>KIEV, Ukraine (Reuters) - NATO leaders arrived in Ukraine on Tuesday for
>a meeting that Kiev hopes will be a major step toward closer links
>between the Western alliance and the former Soviet state seeking
>integration into European structures.
>``For the first time, 19 NATO ambassadors, the Secretary General and the
>chief of the military committee come to Kiev together for this historic
>meeting,�� said Natalya Melnichuk, head of the NATO Information and
>Documentation Center in Kiev.
>Wednesday's meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission, to be chaired by
>NATO Secretary-General George Robertson, will be the 16th since Ukraine
>signed a partnership charter with the alliance in 1997 but the first to
>be held in Kiev.
>Joining NATO is not on the agenda for Ukraine and Wednesday's meeting is
>unlikely to take any key decisions. But Robertson, who previously
>visited Kiev in late January, will stay on for an extra day for a
>program of unofficial visits.
>NATO and Ukrainian officials say the very composition of the gathering
>will clearly demonstrate Western support for Ukraine's aspirations to
>integrate into European structures.
>Ukraine Seeks Place In Europe Via Ties With Nato
>``I think Ukraine wanted to have a meeting in Kiev because it gives us a
>chance to move the relationship forward, it raises (Ukraine�s)
>profile,�� a NATO official said.
>``Ukraine has this policy of seeking greater integration into European
>structures, and NATO sees this as completely in line with its own view
>of NATO-Ukraine relations.��
>Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma won re-election last November on
>pledges to boost market reforms, build good relations with Russia and
>integrate into Europe.
>Experts say that after his landslide victory the timing is good for
>Kuchma to demonstrate Ukraine's European vocation and cordial relations
>with NATO, despite a strong leftist opposition in the country of 50
>million.
>``During the election voters supported Ukraine�s European
>choice,�� said presidential spokesman Olexander Martynenko.
>``Ukraine sees its relations with NATO as ties with the most influential
>European structure which is an important element of stability and
>security in the region.��
>MOSCOW CLOSELY WATCHES UKRAINE-NATO RELATIONS Wednesday's meeting in
>Kiev is likely to be closely watched by Ukraine's former imperial master
>Moscow which froze its ties with NATO during the alliance's air strikes
>on Yugoslavia last year. It agreed to revive relations only earlier this
>month.
>Ukrainian officials, under the pressure of public opinion in the
>country, did not support the air strikes but at the same time condemned
>Serbia for ethnic cleansing of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and never
>suspended its ties with NATO.
>``Now the military operation in Kosovo is over, Ukraine is taking part
>in the KFOR operation there and what�s more, the president who got
>re-elected can go ahead and pursue a strong policy with NATO,�� the
>NATO official said.
>Ukraine has been an active participant in NATO military exercises within
>the alliance's Partnership for Peace program with non-member states.
>Unlike Russia, Ukraine did not oppose the accession of its neighbors
>Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic to the alliance.
>
>
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