UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION TV SEES PROGRESS ON AZERI OIL
TV 5 Kanal, Kiev
3 Jun 04
(Presenter) In all likelihood, the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline will be
pumping Azeri oil. The deputy prime ministers of Ukraine and Azerbaijan
have signed an agreement on cooperation in the oil sector. Kiev and
Baku agreed to provide conditions for the transport of oil through
Ukraine and Azerbaijan, but within the existing capabilities. It
is unclear where the limit of the existing capabilities lies. The
agreement is the main outcome of the first day of (Azerbaijani)
President Ilham Aliyev’s state visit to Ukraine.
For the first time throughout his years in office, (Ukrainian)
President Leonid Kuchma has openly taken sides with a post-Soviet
country in its conflict with another country. Kuchma resolutely
supported Baku in its fight for the return of Nagornyy Karabakh to
Azerbaijan. Kuchma said openly that Ukraine has always supported
and will continue to support Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.
His counterpart Ilham Aliyev said that the truth in the conflict is
on the side of his homeland.
(Passage omitted: background to Nagornyy Karabakh conflict between
Azerbaijan and Armenia)
(Kuchma, in Russian) Over 20 per cent of Azerbaijani territory is
occupied by Armenia. It is necessary to call a spade a spade.
(Aliyev, in Russian) Ukraine’s unequivocal position on a just
settlement of the conflict on the basis of international law commands
great respect.
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