Rice downplays Ukraine pullout
2005-03-12 09:25
Washington - United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday downplayed Ukraine's planned withdrawal of troops from Iraq, emphasising the issue was being co-ordinated between the two countries.
"We fully understand that the Ukrainian government has decided to end that troop presence," Rice said in Washington after meeting with her Ukrainian counterpart, Boris Tarasyuk.
On March 1 President Viktor Yushchenko announced that Ukraine would withdraw its coalition 1 650 troops in Iraq in three stages between mid-March and mid-October.
Yushchenko is scheduled to visit the White House on April 4 for talks with President George W Bush aimed at deepening "strategic" ties, both countries said on Friday.
"There are discussion going on about how that will be done," said Rice. "The one thing that I am very certain is that Ukraine will do it in a way that does not in any way endanger the mission or endanger the forces of others there."
Kiev also "intends to continue to be involved in helping the Iraqi people, through technical assistance, perhaps through some training," said Rice.
"We understand the commitment that the Ukrainian government has made to its own people," Rice said, referring to Yushchenko's campaign promise to pull Ukrainian troops from Iraq.
The withdrawal "has been handled in a way that demonstrates that this is a relationship that is based on partnership, based on values and where we can work together on even the most difficult issues," said Rice.
Ukraine has the sixth-largest contingent in the US-led coalition in Iraq after the United States, Britain, South Korea, Italy and Poland.
Yushchenko won a rerun presidential election in late December after mass protests and a Supreme Court decision annulling the previous round, which opponents called fraudulent.