Russia's State Duma, the lower house of parliament, will consider the state of Russian-Ukrainian relations on April 1.
The State Duma's public and media relations department announced this to Ukrainian News.
According to the announcement, parliamentary hearings entitled "The State of Russian-Ukrainian Relations and Fulfillment of Obligations Under the Agreement on Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership between Russia and Ukraine" will be held in the State Duma on April 1.
Members of the Federation Council (upper house of the Russian parliament), representatives of the Russian Security Council, the heads of federal and regional organs of the executive branch of government, scientists, experts, representatives of academic institutions and analytical centers, political scientists, journalists, and Ukrainian parliamentary deputies are expected to attend the hearings.
According to the head of the Committee on CIS Affairs and Relations with Compatriots, Aleksey Ostrovsky, April 1 is the ninth anniversary of the introduction of the Agreement on Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership between Russia and Ukraine, and the agreement will expire next year.
Ostrovsky said that the aim of the hearings was to understand whether it was necessary to extend the agreement or amend it.
"We should take a fresh look at the 'big' Russian-Ukrainian agreement, taking account of the desire of Ukraine's leadership to drag its country into NATO without seeking the opinion of the Ukrainian people," he said.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Russia's Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin has expressed the hope that Russian-Ukrainian relations will develop in 2008 following the election of a new president of Russia.
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