President of Russia
  • Events
  • Structure
  • Videos and Photos
  • Documents
  • Contacts
  • Search
  • Search this website
President of Russia
Mobile version

President's
website
sections

  • Events
  • Structure
  • Videos and Photos
  • Documents
  • Contacts
  • Search
  • Search
  • For the Media
  • Subscribe
  • Directory
  • Version for People with Disabilities
  • YouTube Channel
  • Русский

President's
website
resources

  • President of RussiaCurrent resource
  • The Constitution of Russia
  • State Insignia
  • Send a Letter
  • Vladimir Putin’s Personal Website

Special
animal welfare
projects

  • Amur tiger
  • Beluga whale
  • Polar bear
  • Snow leopard
  • Far Eastern leopard

Legal
and technical
information

  • About website
  • Using website content
  • Personal data of website users
  • Contact website team

All content on this site is licensed under

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Presidential Executive Office2023
Events

Joint Press Conference with Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma after the Second Round of Russian-Ukrainian Summit Talks

May 4, 2003
00:01
Yalta, Crimea

Leonid Kuchma: Speaking for the Ukrainian side, I would like to repeat myself. I am very glad that despite his tight schedule, President Putin has managed to spend a few days in the Crimea, which gave us a chance to talk about everything, and honestly, we have talked about everything that interested us. The talks were very informal, we didn’t even have our closest advisors with us who sometimes prompt things we don’t want. I am very pleased with this meeting. As for the results, as I said the day before yesterday there is no alternative to deepening relations with our strategic partner, the Russian Federation. We are indeed interested in expanding economic links. The situation in the world confirms this idea. We are interested in having permanent political consultations. We are interested in the creation of the Common Economic Space. We are interested in the CIS activities. So I thank Mr Putin. It’s a pity that times flies. Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: The relations between Russia and Ukraine are unique. We have a shared history. Most Ukrainian citizens link their destinies with Russia and many Russian citizens link their personal fates with Ukraine where they have close relatives. This is a fact. Therefore we should build our relations by non-standard means and in non-standard ways. I am very grateful to the Ukrainian President for his invitation and for the opportunity to discuss all the issues of concern to us in an informal way.

We have discussed political interaction above all in the CIS. Mr Kuchma is currently the head of the CIS.

Ukraine and its President have some good initiatives to offer in key areas for the development of our countries, especially in the economy. Of course, we spoke about this in the context of our work on accession into the WTO, both for Ukraine and Russia. We discussed it in the context of harmonising the legislations of Ukraine and Russia in order to be able to work normally with our European partners. Along with harmonising our laws with those of Europe, we intend to work jointly with our colleagues to create the Common Economic Space together with Greater Europe. This will be a major topic at the Russia-EU meeting in St Petersburg on May 31, to which the CIS leaders have been invited, including Mr Kuchma.

We have discussed cooperation between our Defence Ministries. I met the Commander of the Black Sea Fleet yesterday. He told me about the high level of interaction achieved between the Black Sea Fleet and the Ukrainian Navy. Needless to say, it brings us to another important topic: military-technical cooperation, because as you know, the defence systems of Ukraine and Russia are so closely linked that they can only develop separately at a very heavy cost. And conversely, we need close cooperation in order to ensure our defence capabilities, preserve jobs and develop new technologies. We discussed that as well, and I hope that there will be practical progress.

We have discussed many other things; it is impossible to name them all. The Russian delegation is highly satisfied with the results of our work. Thank you.

Publication status

Published in section: Transcripts

Publication date: May 4, 2003, 00:01

Direct link: en.kremlin.ru/d/21987

Text version

Text

Share
Direct link
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/21987
Share
  • VK
  • LiveJournal
  • Send by email
  • Print
Send by email

Official Website of the President of Russia:

Joint Press Conference with Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma after the Second Round of Russian-Ukrainian Summit Talks

http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/21987

Last updated at March 20, 2015, 18:00

Официальные сетевые ресурсы

Президента России

Official Internet Resources

of the President of Russia

Русский Английский
  • For the Media
  • Version for People with Disabilities
  • Telegram channel
  • YouTube Channel
  • State Insignia
  • Send a Letter
  • Vladimir Putin’s Personal Website
  • Putin. 20 years

Presidential Executive Office
2023