To avoid a basic attack

Ukraine is ready to legislatively consolidate the refusal to place the NATO military bases on its territory. According to RIA Novosti, this was stated on Wednesday by President Viktor Yushchenko.

“If the Russian side is worried about the military bases, then Ukraine will never go to this,” he said at a meeting with the Ukrainian diaspora in Moscow. “We are ready to strengthen this in constitutionally.”

Yushchenko also said that Ukraine will eventually hold a referendum to join NATO: "We must understand that this issue concerns each of us." According to him, today 97 percent of Ukrainians are not informed about what the North Atlantic Alliance is, so do not rush to join this association.

On the eve of Russian President Vladimir Putin called Ukraine’s entry into NATO it is an internal affair, but called on Kyiv to think about the consequences. “It’s scary to say, it’s scary to think that Russia, in response to such a positional areas, and theoretically cannot be excluded on the Ukrainian territory, will aim its missile systems on Ukraine. Imagine only for a second. That's what worries us,” Putin said. “Imagine the NATO base in Sevastopol.”

In mid -January, the leadership of Ukraine applied for joining a plan for membership in NATO at the Bucharest Summit of the Alliance, which will be held in early April. The opposition requires a decision on the speedy referendum to join the Alliance and not to take further rapprochement from NATO before the plebiscite. Disagreements caused a parliamentary crisis: the Party of Regions blocked the parliament for three weeks, demanding a fundamental decision on the "NATO issue".