Slovak president supports Ukraine’s EU bid
Andrej Kiska comes out strongly in favor of membership for former Soviet state
Kyiv, May 20 (ČTK) — Ukraine has the right to European Union membership, Slovak President Andrej Kiska said about the target set by his host, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, during his visit to Kyiv today.
Poroshenko said Ukrainians’ efforts to approach the EU made Russia unleash the war in eastern Ukraine.
“Slovakia supports the process of EU enlargement,” Kiska is quoted as saying by the Ukrainian news agency Unian.
He also said if Ukraine was interested in the membership, it had to fulfill all the demands.
He said according to an agreement on the EU, every European country fulfilling the necessary criteria had the right to membership.
“Ukraine has the right and chance to become an EU member,” Kiska said, according to Unian.
Poroshenko thanked Kiska for an “absolutely firm position” of Slovakia and the EU.
Poroshenko said the sanctions against Russia should be maintained as long as the peace agreements from Minsk were completely fulfilled, including the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.
He also thanked Kiska for the deliveries of gas that helped break the monopoly of the Russian Gazprom and for the support vis-a-vis a “Russian aggression.”
“There is neither any internal conflict nor a civil war in Ukraine,” Poroshenko said. “The fact of the presence of Russian troops on our territory has been proved several times.”
“At various times, there have been between 4,000 and 14,000 Russian soldiers from regular military units alone in Ukraine,” Poroshenko said.
Moscow has denied any direct involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.