“We are very interested in developing and strengthening mutual relations with Great Britain,” – Andriy Parubiy at the meeting with Lord Fowler

At the start of the meeting with The Rt Hon. Lord Fowler, Lord Speaker of the British Parliament, the Chair A.Parubiy declared that Ukraine had always been part of the European space, and the 2013-14 developments had once again testified the “European choice” of the Ukrainian people.

A.Parubiy stressed how important for Ukraine the inter-parliamentary cooperation between Ukraine and Great Britain was.

"The key issues for us are today the energy security of Ukraine and Europe, the support of our position that the North Stream 2 is not an economic but a political project that shall have a heavy impact upon Europe and will attempt to destabilize Europe," said the politician. He also spoke about the “anti-Stream” letter signed by the speakers of five European parliaments, stating that Great Britain’s position on the issue was very important for Ukraine.

Then, the Chairperson of the Parliament focused on the support of political prisoners detained by a gory Putin. Among them, he said, there were not only soldiers but also Ukraine’s filmmakers, artists, activists, journalists, who had at that time been in a clear yet risky position regarding Ukraine in the occupied territories.

The parties also discussed the situation in the east of Ukraine and in the occupied Crimea.

Lord Fowler denounced what Russia and its puppets had done.

During the meeting, the sides touched upon opposing to misinformation, and, in particular, the possibility of holding a joint inter-parliamentary conference among the countries that "stand in the likeness of the shield of freedom".

A.Parubiy stressed that for Ukraine "European integration means independence".

Lord Fowler remarked on Brexit, albeit supported by the British, did not mean that the United Kingdom had broken with Europe.  He believes that Britain's ties with European countries will even be intensified.

A.Parubiy observed that Ukraine was in need of the important experience and traditions Great Britain had been keeping. "We are interested in developing and strengthening our interrelations," he said.

The Speaker of the UA Parliament noted that NATO had been identified as a key element of Ukraine's foreign policy.

"Ukraine is pursuing a large-scale security sector reform, and by 2020 we are to raise the entire security sector up to the standards of NATO.  In the realm of foreign policy, Ukraine's accession to NATO is the number one issue," said Andriy Parubiy.