Ukraine wants to participate in building new global security system - Poroshenko

The world needs a new security system now that the post-war organizations, both European and global, have ceased to be effective and cannot protect a single country, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in an interview with the German television and radio station ARD.

He also said Ukraine was ready to participate in shaping such a system.

"The new security system will not be targeted against anyone, including Russia. Its goals are protection of the national territories, excluding aggression and violations of the border, and the use of effective mechanisms of safeguarding peace," Poroshenko said.

Poroshenko said, according to the presidential press service, that NATO remains a system that can guarantee security to its members. On Ukraine's possible bid for membership in NATO, he said that what matters is reform, not statements. "We must do all we can to bring the country, citizens' incomes, GDP, investment in the defense complex and the armed forces to a level matching the criteria applied to countries willing to joining NATO," he said.

Poroshenko added that the past four years had demonstrated that Ukraine's choice of the non-aligned model was a mistake.

He said he would not allow anyone to exert pressure on Ukraine in matters of development and planning the foreign-policy course, and that he would heed the Ukrainian people's opinion. "We will not allow anyone to exert external pressure on Ukraine in defining its development vector," Poroshenko said.

An overwhelming majority of citizens are demanding immediate reforms, he went on to say. "We must carry out reforms, create a favorable investment climate and implement the association accord with the European Union - the goals which 75% of the Ukrainian citizens want to attain, he said. Poroshenko also said that Ukrainian citizens were defending the rule of law, human rights and media freedom when they joined protests in November 2013 to February 2014.

But he also said that countering aggression and the defense of territorial integrity were the main challenges Ukraine is to tackle. "I have always been trying to maintain dialogue and to keep the doors of peace open," the Ukrainian president said.