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President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych: Mr Putin, colleagues,

First of all, I would like to congratulate everyone on a wonderful date: the 1025^th anniversary of the Baptism of Kievan Rus. And I am grateful to you personally, Mr Putin, for coming to Ukraine today with such an eminent delegation to celebrate with us this splendid holiday of the unity of our peoples.

The significance of this event is enormous, and in the spirit of Ukrainian hospitality, we are making every effort to ensure that this occasion is celebrated in a proper way. It is being marked today in many Ukrainian cities, with festive events honouring this significant date.

And naturally, participation by our colleagues – the presidents of friendly Orthodox nations – is also very significant. Today, we attended the prayer service with participation by Primates of Orthodox churches from all Orthodox nations.

”The anniversary of the Baptism of Rus is truly our shared major holiday, which reminds us of our spiritual unity and our common roots.“

With this in mind, I would like to very briefly discuss the current agenda of our talks. I am confident that we have many mutual interests, issues that are relevant to Ukraine and Russia, which can create conditions for the development of our economies and mutual cooperation in many sectors.

Colleagues, I welcome you.

Mr Putin, you have the floor. Please go ahead.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Yanukovych, friends,

First of all, I am grateful to the President of Ukraine for his invitation to participate in celebrations of the 1025^th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus and I thank you for today’s opportunity to meet with you.

This is truly our shared major holiday, which reminds us of our spiritual unity and our common roots. It reminds us that we have done a great deal together during previous centuries and that together, we achieved genuinely outstanding results in building what was then our common Fatherland, developing our territories, our nations, our peoples.

”We are full of resolve to work together, drawing on everything that has been achieved by our forefathers and our predecessors.“

Today, the situation is different, but we are full of resolve to work together, drawing on everything that has been achieved by our forefathers and our predecessors. The challenges before us are large and difficult. I am pleased to note that you and I maintain a constant personal contact: you come to our nation on working visits and I come to Ukraine – today’s meeting is yet another confirmation of this. There are on-going meetings between our colleagues at the government and representative body level. We have many joint issues and problems that we must resolve.

Tomorrow, we will be observing Navy Day, another celebration that, thanks to you, has also become a shared one. I hope it will be another good cause to talk about cooperation in the security sector: it is an area where our nations face many threats and challenges.

I am very pleased by our meeting today, and I thank you again for inviting me.

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