Kyiv, 3 April, 2014 – During a briefing at the Ukraine Crisis Media Center Danylo Lubkivsky, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine noted that Foreign Minister Deshchytsia participated in the Ukraine-NATO committee in Brussels, where the Alliance pledged once again to stand by Ukraine’s side – including in modernization of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. “The Parliament of Ukraine agreed to bilateral and multilateral military exercises with NATO members for this year”, said Mr. Lubkivsky.
Commenting on Standard&Poor’s agency downgrading its rating for Crimea to “D”, Mr. Lubkivsky said: “That’s an extremely bad, unfortunate change for Crimea. And this is the result of Russia’s actions. That’s Russian responsibility. When starting the war on Ukraine, Russia didn’t count on a world’s resolute resistance. According to the World Bank’s recent warning, Russia could see a record capital outflow of 150 billion dollars (109 billion euros).”
However, Ukraine is getting back to normal life, said Deputy Foreign Minister. “Come and see – this the message Ukraine sends to the world. Special bodies will be established to deal with the European Association. We are introducing Constitutional reform based on local governance. The Council of Europe noted that most of the commitments regarding the Russian language have been implemented, and we are working on certain commitments for other languages. The Council of Europe concluded that the protection of minority languages in Ukraine remains at high level.”
Around 1 000 OSCE observers will monitor Ukraine’s Presidential elections, and more to come from other organizations and countries, said Mr. Lubkivsky.
Mr. Lubkivsky also expressed gratitude for a wide range of foreign policy and civil society initiatives to provide Ukraine with assistance that comes from Turkey and Lithuania, Poland and the United Kingdom, Sweden and Canada, and dozens of other nations.