New Ukraine president to make Brussels first trip

Ukraine´s new pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych has chosen to make Brussels as his first diplomatic port of call.

BRUSSELS, February 23, 2010 (AFP) - Ukraine's new pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych has chosen to make Brussels as his first diplomatic port of call since his disputed election earlier this month, officials said.

Yanukovych will visit the European Union's headquarters on March 1 following an invitation from the bloc's new president Herman Van Rompuy and the Jerzy Buzek, president of the EU parliament. He will also meet EU Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.

Yanukovych will travel on from Brussels to Moscow, showing that for him the European Union "remains a major player," France's European Affairs Minister Pierre Lellouche said on the margins of an EU foreign ministers' meeting here.

News of the visit comes as defeated election candidate, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, refuses to recognise him Yanukovych as president, vowing to fight to consolidate a parliamentary majority against him.

"I do not recognise him as president of Ukraine and do not accept his anti-Ukrainian, anti-European politics," Tymoshenko said Monday.

Yanukovych is usually seen as a pro-Kremlin figure and Tymoshenko as a champion of EU integration although the differences have become more blurred in recent years.

Van Rompuy was one of the first to congratulate Yanukovych on his victory and made a point of praising the conduct of the polls and promising to work with him in the future.

Europeans are keen in particular to see Ukraine become a reliable provider of energy, largely Russian gas.

Sme 80 percent of Russian natural gas supplies to Europe transit through Ukraine, providing a quarter of the continent's needs.