"As far as our economic relations with Russia are concerned, they can keep developing," Mr. Yushchenko said in an interview with Belgian newspaper La Libre Belgique.
"However, we shall never make any economic decision blocking our integration to the European Union," the Ukrainian President emphasized.
Answering a question if it is possible to be a strategic partner of Russia and the EU at the same time, Mr. Yushchenko said that the European Union had established strategic partnership with the Russian Federation.
"It is ruled out to develop relations with one partner on the basis of the principles which are inadmissible to the other. All other things are possible," the Ukrainian leader noted.
According to him, the accession to NATO and integration to the EU are Ukraine's priority goals.
"Undoubtedly, our strategic interest lies in the Euro-Atlantic sphere. But this is the policy of harmony, not the policy of exceptionalism. I would like to maintain this policy both in the West and East," Viktor Yushchenko said.