Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Viktor Yanukovych: Mr Putin, I’m glad to welcome you here. I’m happy to see you in Kiev.

You are devoting a great deal of attention to relations between Russia and Ukraine. Owing to the efforts of our governments, we have exceeded pre-crisis trade by almost $2 billion over the past year. Our trade was about $42 billion in 2010. I know what it means to be the prime minister of Ukraine, and in Russia this is an even more difficult job because of the different scale and distances involved. However, the approaches we adopted last year were justified. We have already registered 55% growth in trade during this quarter. This is a little less than in the past year –  61%, but so far for this year it stands at 55%.

Vladimir Putin: The growth rate was higher according to our statistics.

Viktor Yanukovych: Last year?

Vladimir Putin: No, according to our statistics, this year the figure is higher that in the past year – over 60%.

Viktor Yanukovych: Over 60%? I hope that is the case. We have a question on statistics. Both sides should take a look at what is counted and what is left out because our systems of accounting are slightly different. We haven’t aligned our core legislation during the years of independence, and this is why questions arise.

Today is a remarkable day – the 50^th anniversary of Yury Gagarin’s space flight. I think many generations will remember how Ukraine and Russia worked together to make this possible. We must commemorate this with deeds. As you emphasised in your speech, our history compels us not simply to remember this event but to continue to work together in the future. I believe that the there are tremendous prospects and enormous potential for us to work together to develop our space complexes (they had different names in our countries). I’m grateful to you for the decision on Sich-2. I received your answer to our prime minister. As far as I understand, these are the agreements we reached at our previous meeting, in particular, on the work of the joint commission that will determine the strategy of our cooperation in developing diverse aspects of our space agencies and programmes.

Needless to say, we are very concerned about the Dnepr programme. We are well aware that it requires modernisation. At the same time we are also well aware of our responsibility before you on all strategic armaments related to the control system. We know well that we shouldn’t present this as our great merit. I think these are our joint commitments and we will abide by them. This will enhance peace and security, and this is why we will always do this.

I’d like to say a few words about your decision to send one of your deputies to Ukraine to attend the celebrations of the 90^th birthday of two-time Hero of the Soviet Union, pilot-cosmonaut Yury Beregovoy. This is a great honour for me and a very wise decision on your part. It will promote our cultural ties. I’m talking about not just professional ties but also about human contacts. I’d like to thank you very much for the understanding you’ve exhibited. This is a date that Ukrainians and Russians should celebrate together.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much, Mr Yanukovych. Thank you for today’s meeting. I’d like to convey to you best wishes from President Dmitry Medvedev.

We had a detailed conversation. We met specially before my trip and discussed in detail all areas of our cooperation. All of our policies regarding Ukraine stem from a common, consolidated position. This applies not only to the president and the prime minister but to all our agencies. And this is understandable because a lot of agencies (I’ve just said this at the meeting with my counterpart) depend on bilateral cooperation. We have inherited this from our history. There are some problems here but they are miniscule. It yields many more advantages, competitive advantages, than problems.

This is indeed a significant day. Our countries share this holiday, and I’d like to repeat that Ukrainian specialists did a lot to advance space exploration and the aerospace industry in the Soviet Union. But of course I agree with you that we must look to the future. We have great prospects. We cooperate on many programmes, for instance Fobos-Grunt (Phobos-Ground) and a whole number of major joint projects that rely on the capabilities of Russian companies. However, I think we should adopt an even broader approach to research cooperation. You know about our project to build the Vostochny spaceport in Russia’s Far East. We could bring on Ukrainian specialists during the early stage of this project – they could take part in the construction of the spaceport. Most important, they should understand when spacecraft will be launched from it, what they will be like and where they will be produced. We are allocating huge resources to this programme. We have already started working on it. At any rate, we are drafting all of the necessary plans and projects for it. We also spoke about cooperation in aircraft manufacturing. Combining our capabilities in this industry would yield significant results.  

You’ve mentioned the restoration of our pre-crisis trade and with good reason. I’d like to note one more pleasant figure with respect to the economy – during the past year Russian investment grew to $1.1 billion. Ukrainian investment is growing at a more modest rate – about $200 million – but on the whole there is a growth trend in investment, and this is a very positive sign that speaks to our continued cooperation. I think that investment means not only money but also technology, new production plants and more advanced cooperation. I’m very pleased to note that the Ukrainian president and prime minister are supporting this trend. Thank you very much.

Viktor Yanukovych: Mr Putin, I’d like to say a few words about our plans. As you know, there is going to be a meeting of our interstate commission in this quarter, most likely in June.

I reminded [Ukrainian Prime Minister] Mykola Azarov today that there are some issues that we should resolve together. I’m referring to withdrawals that are reducing our trade. If we can get rid of them, we can reach $50 billion in trade this year. I remember how we were happy in the past to see bilateral trade reach $30 billion, and here we are now talking about $50 billion. This is a real possibility. There are some issues that require a bold decision, as we have done before…

Vladimir Putin: Okay. Let’s discuss this further.