President Vladimir Putin attended a reception on Ukraine's Independence Day 2001-08-23 21:30:55 The Mariinsky Palace, Kiev In his address to the gathering, Mr Putin said that Russian-Ukrainian relations were gaining stability and becoming predictable, and that bilateral strategic partnership was a hopeful token not only for the two nations but for the entire Commonwealth of Independent States, united Europe and the world. Mr Putin and Mr Trajkovski had a short talk before the reception. They did not need an interpreter with their fluent English.