UKRAINE EXPRESSES QUALIFIED SUPPORT FOR NATO ENLARGEMENT.

Addressing an international conference in Warsaw on "The Rebirth of Ukraine," that country’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Anton Buteiko said that Kiev regards NATO as a key factor in the security of Europe and does not object to its eastward enlargement. No country is entitled to veto NATO enlargement, Buteiko said with reference to Russia. At the same time Buteiko called for taking certain Russian interests into account in planning the enlargement and also qualified Ukrainian support for the plan. He urged NATO and the Central European countries to the west of Ukraine to follow Norway’s model, ruling out the deployment of nuclear weapons and allied bases and troops on the territories of those countries in peacetime. (Interfax-Ukraine, May 19).

Ukraine Asks OSCE to Close its Mission. There.