Hillary Clinton tells Ukraine door to NATO open | Reuters - July 2, 2010 |

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Ukraine on Friday that the door to joining NATO remained open even though its new leadership has abandoned alliance membership as a long-term goal.

But she made clear that Washington did not seek to disrupt Ukraine's new closer ties with Moscow. Those who pushed Ukraine to choose between Russia and the West were offering a "false choice," she said.

At the same time, she urged President Viktor Yanukovich to stick to a democratic course and obliquely expressed concern over reports that media freedoms were being infringed.

"We would urge the Ukrainian government to safeguard these critical liberties," she told a news conference with Yanukovich.

She also backed Ukraine's push to win a new International Monetary Fund program of up to $19 billion and encouraged the country to strengthen its investment climate through economic reform, fighting corruption and upholding the rule of law.

Clinton's discreet avoidance of any open criticism of pro-Russian moves by the newly-elected Yanukovich was in line with the Obama administration's policy of "resetting" ties with Moscow.

Apart from downgrading contacts with the U.S.-led military alliance, Yanukovich has tilted Ukraine firmly toward Moscow by stepping up commercial contacts and by extending the stay of the Russian navy in a Ukrainian Black Sea port by 25 years.

Christopher Steele and Orbis Business Intelligence were already connected to Ukraine by Hillary Clinton and Vicky Nuland writing reports for US State Department in 2014.

'Sapere aude'