here and now №1 18.03.1999 (1999)

The broadcast is timed to coincide with the upcoming visit of Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma to Moscow and his meeting with Boris Yeltsin.

The heads of state are expected to discuss the plan for implementing the "Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between the Russian Federation and Ukraine", ratified in 1998. Fragments of the "Here and Now" program with the participation of Minister for CIS Affairs Boris Pastukhov (16.02.1999), Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov - express their attitude to the Treaty.

The video link with Vladimir Gorbulin is conducted from a studio in Kyiv (Ukraine).

Vladimir Gorbulin notes the positive trend in relations between the countries after the signing of the Treaty.

He says that the Ukrainian side places great hopes on expanding economic and political ties.

Gorbulin expresses the official attitude of the country's leadership to NATO expansion: Ukraine is in favor of cooperation with the Alliance.

The issue of Ukraine's debt to Russia for gas supplies is raised, as well as the problem of the unplanned withdrawal of energy resources from pipelines.

One of the hot topics of the issue is the expectation of the Russian side for the ratification by the Ukrainian Parliament of the agreement on the Russian Black Sea Fleet, within the framework of the Treaty of Friendship.

The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council expresses his attitude to the idea proposed by the President of Belarus A. Lukashenko and the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine A. Tkacheno to create a triple alliance - Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.