Kyiv Post

KYIV (AP) - NATO is ready to help Ukraine in its bid to become a member, alliance secretary-general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Monday on a visit to the former Soviet republic.

"I know that the Ukrainian government is on the reform path. NATO and myself as the secretary-general will assist Ukraine," de Hoop Scheffer said after meeting Foreign Minister Borys Tarasiuk. He did not elaborate.

De Hoop Scheffer, on a one-day visit, was also to meet with President Viktor Yushchenko, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, and other top officials.

Yushchenko, who won last year's bitterly contested presidential race, has sought to bring this nation of 48 million people neighboring Russia into the Western orbit.

Yushchenko recently put the goal of joining NATO and the European Union back into Ukraine's defense doctrine, reversing course after his predecessor Leonid Kuchma dropped the two aims amid deteriorating relations with the West. Yushchenko has set 2008 as the target date for joining NATO.

NATO has said, however, that Ukraine has considerable work ahead before its membership can be considered. NATO wants Ukraine to reform and reduce its cash-strapped military, strengthen democracy and do more to protect human rights and freedom of the press.

Ukraine is a member of NATO's Partnership for Peace program, which is considered an important step toward full membership.

Tarasiuk said the talks with de Hoop Scheffer covered issues including Ukraine's possible participation in NATO-led peacekeeping missions.

Ukrainian troops are currently serving in NATO's peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. Ukraine is withdrawing its 1,650-strong contingent from Iraq and the pullout is scheduled be completed by the end of the year.

Many Ukrainians, including top opposition politicians, believe, however, that the country's accession to NATO and military reforms would cripple Ukraine's sizable military industry and its status as a leading weapons exporter. Many opponents of NATO membership also regard the alliance as a historic foe from the Cold War era.

De Hoop Scheffer sought to dissipate those fears. "When we speak about a new Ukraine there is also a new NATO ... it is different from NATO of the cold war," he told a news conference.

After meeting De Hoop Scheffer, Yushchenko said that Ukraine and NATO should "do more to promote the idea of Atlantic integration processes to Ukrainians."

In a later speech at the Officers' Club, the top NATO official said that "we don't see the slightest contradiction between (Ukraine's) membership aspirations and Ukraine's and NATO's partnership with Russia."

"Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic choice is a sovereign decision for the Ukrainian people and their elected leaders," he said.

After meeting De Hoop Scheffer, Yushchenko said that Ukraine and NATO should "do more to promote the idea of Atlantic integration processes to Ukrainians."

Meanwhile, a few dozen activists of the youth branch of the ultra-left Progressive Socialist Party peacefully rallied against NATO in downtown Kyiv.