MOSCOW, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko says he intends to develop a strong partnership with Russia.
"We have always stood and we will stand for Russia being our eternal strategic partner," he said Monday during a meeting in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin. It was Yushchenko's first official visit abroad since his election.
Yushchenko said his visit was "a sign of high respect for Russia."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov softened the hard-line Moscow stance by saying: "We have no alternative to building up interaction. The interaction between our countries is immeasurably deeper than the conjuncture that there was during the elections."
Lavrov said economic partnerships, including airplane manufacture and space exploration, were also discussed during the meeting.
The trip came less than 24 hours after Yushchenko was sworn in as president and the urgency reflected the enormous scope of the two countries' relationship, the Novye Izvestia newspaper said. Putin openly backed Yushchenko's opponent, Viktor Yanukovych, and all but ignored Sunday's inauguration.
After a presidential election plagued by ballot fraud and a poison scandal, Yushchenko defeated the Russian-backed Yanukovych in a Dec. 26 rerun.
