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U.S. DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE RICHARD ARMITAGE HAILS ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE IN UKRAINE
  

Agence France-Presse, Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, Mar 25, 2004

KIEV (AFP) - US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said he could "barely believe" the economic improvements in Ukraine during a brief visit to the former Soviet republic.

"My eyes can barely believe the changes that they see. The people of Ukraine have the right to be enormously proud... of an unbelievable economic performance," the US State Department number two said, after talks with Foreign Minister Konstantin Hrishchenko.

Armitage arrived in Kiev Thursday for a one-day visit during which he is due to meet with Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma in an effort to promote democratic reforms.

Armitage and Kostyantyn Hryshchenko, March 25, 2004
Reuters/Gleb Garanich
(Click on image to enlarge it)

Armitage said he would thank Kuchma for contributing 1,300 troops to Iraq, where they serve in a southern district overseen by Polish troops. "I am to thank the president for his courageous decision to support the coalition in Iraq," Armitage told reporters.

Touching on thornier issues, Armitage was expected to raise the issue of press freedom with Kuchma, after the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) was pulled off the FM airwaves last month in Ukraine, unleashing a storm of criticism both in Ukraine and abroad.

Armitage's Ukraine visit is part of a regional tour and he is due to travel to Armenia and Azerbaijan after leaving Kiev, state department spokesman Richard Boucher said in a statement earlier this week.

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