Candidate for the presidency and Regions Party leader Viktor Yanukovych has said that the current level of Ukraine's cooperation with NATO is sufficient and that the question of the country's accession to the alliance is therefore not urgent.

"Ukraine has always cooperated with NATO, and Ukraine has always implemented its programs. We think that such a level of cooperation is currently sufficient, and the Ukrainian people currently support such a level of cooperation," he said in an interview with the New York Times given in Dniprodzerzhynsk on Tuesday.

Yanukovych said that Ukraine is currently ready to participate in building a new system of collective security in Europe.

"And we're ready to back Russia's and France's initiatives," he said.

He also commented on whether he supports Ukraine's joining NATO.

"The Ukrainian people don't currently support Ukraine's entry to NATO and this corresponds to the status that we currently have. We don't want to join any military bloc," Yanukovych said.