Reply #3: AP: Bush Welcoming New Ukrainian President [View All]

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/bush_yushchenko


WASHINGTON - President Bush is welcoming Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, with the White House expressing no hard feelings about Yushchenko's plans to pull troops from Iraq and his predecessor's sale of weapons to U.S. foes.

Bush frequently cites Yushchenko's peaceful rise to power as an example of the march of freedom throughout the world and has pledged to help him make further democratic reforms.


White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the agenda for the meeting Monday in the Oval Office included the spread of democracy in Eastern Europe and the Middle East and curbing the spread of weapons.


Yushchenko told The Associated Press before leaving for Washington that he and Bush will review steps to end illicit arms sales from his country. Relations deteriorated after Washington accused former President Leonid Kuchma's regime of selling radar systems to Iraq in violation of international sanctions.