No NATO for Ukraine

With a nod to the Kremlin, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych proposed a bill to his parliament, which it approved Thursday, to keep their nation from joining NATO’s ranks. Take that, hegemonic Western policymakers!  —KA

BBC:

The law, submitted by President Viktor Yanukovych, cements Ukraine’s status as a military non-aligned country—though it will co-operate with Nato.

President Yanukovych was elected earlier this year, vowing to end Ukraine’s Nato membership ambitions and mend relations with Russia.

His predecessor, Viktor Yushchenko, had pursued a pro-Western foreign policy.

Under him, relations with Moscow had declined dramatically, with the Kremlin refusing to talk to him.

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Wikimedia Commons / www.kremlin.ru

Russian President (now Prime Minister) Vladimir Putin, right, visits Ukraine’s Prime Minister (now President) Viktor Yanukovych (got that?) in December 2006.