On February 15, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma met in Kyiv with former head of the United States State Department Madeleine Albright to discuss the upcoming elections to the Verkhovna Rada.

Madeleine Albright, who currently holds the post of Chairman of the Board of Directors of the US National Democratic Institute of International Affairs, noted during the meeting that “successful elections in Ukraine will be a significant contribution to strengthening democratic institutions in Ukraine and Ukraine’s authority in the world.”

The former head of the US diplomatic department believes that the legal framework in Ukraine has improved significantly in recent years. She called the adoption of the new Law “On Elections of People’s Deputies of Ukraine” “extremely important” for the country.

The President of Ukraine, in turn, emphasized that the new election law fully complies with international standards. Leonid Kuchma believes that Ukraine has already created a legal framework for the implementation of a democratic electoral process. He called on international organizations to cooperate with the Ukrainian authorities.

At the same time, Leonid Kuchma emphasized that Ukraine needs to be helped in unification processes, and not act by means of pressure. The President believes that over the 10 years of Ukraine's independence, a level of democracy has been achieved in which every person can freely express their opinion. According to him, he is “more interested than anyone in ensuring that elections in Ukraine are held transparently and democratically,” RIA Novosti reports.

Leonid Kuchma met with the former head of the US State Department