On the 17 January, in Kiev, the American senator Richard Lugar, who toured several ex – soviet states, declared on the 17th of January, in Kiev, that Ukraine requested USA to support it to be included in the Action Plan in pursuit of its aspirations towards full integration into Euro-Atlantic security structures during the Bucharest Summit in April.
“During our today’s meeting, president Viktor Iuscenko informed me that  the president, the prime-minister and the Parliament signed a statement in which Kiev launches an appeal for Ukraine to be considered for the Action Plan which would lead to obtaining the status of NATO member during the Bucharest Summit”, confirmed the American senator in a press conference.
The Foreign Minister Volodimir Ogrâzko made a trip to Brussels on Friday and gave the NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the official petition by which Ukraine applies fro joining the NATO  action plan leading to admission – an important step for the ex-soviet republic in joining the Alliance. “Ukraine hopes to be invited to join the Action  Plan forgoing the  NATO inclusion, at the next soon to come Alliance Summit hosted in Bucharest.”, is mentioned in the joint statement of the Ukrainian leaders, and signed by president Viktor Iuscenko, Premier Iulia Timosenko and Parliament President Arseni Iateniuk.
Although the Ukrainian leaders promised that Ukraine would organise a referendum to decide on the country’s accession to NATO, their application was met with tough resistance from the Russian-supporters of the parliamentary opposition. Thus, the Regions’ party, a pro-Russian party, the most important opposition force in the Kiev Parliament, accused the authorities of infringing the Constitution by issuing the official statement referring to Ukraine’s intention of being included in the Action Plan forgoing the NATO joining procedure. The Regions’ Party requires a referendum on the issue of Ukraine joining the North-Atlantic Alliance, and only after the referendum, to launch the official statement asking to take part in the Action Plan.  
Ukraine accession to NATO is a rather controversial issue; over a half of the Ukrainians are against their country’s joining the Alliance (58,9%), while only a percentage of 21% agree, as an opinion pool from December last year reveals.
(Source: Rompres)