Ukrainian Foreign Ministry denies exerting pressure on PACE before Yanukovych's address

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has said that Ukrainian diplomats have in no way applied any pressure on members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe ahead of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's visit to Strasbourg.

"The allegations that Ukrainian diplomats allegedly exerted any pressure on members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe are a sheer provocation," Director of the Information Policy Department of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Oleh Voloshyn said in comments to Interfax-Ukraine.

He noted that the discussion between President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych and members of PACE, which contained burning issues, confirmed that "Ukraine's leadership is not only unafraid of a frank conversation with our European partners, but is also extremely interested in it as in a component of the country's progress on the path of the European integration."

"All the questions put to the president of Ukraine, were initiated jointly by the political groups of PACE as a whole, so calling up or persuading separate deputies is simply meaningless. Ukrainian diplomats are not engaged in meaningless activities," the Foreign Ministry's spokesman said.