In January, Viktor Yushchenko formally requested that the country be admitted to the NATO Membership Action Plan, the first step to full membership of the 26-nation military alliance. Ukraine's application could be considered at the upcoming NATO summit in Bucharest in early April.
"Some people are spreading the fable that there will be a NATO military base in Sevastopol. There will be no base," Yushchenko said, citing the Ukrainian Constitution, which decrees that no foreign military bases may be deployed on Ukrainian soil.
The only exception has been made for Russia's Black Sea Fleet, which is to remain in Ukraine until 2017 under a bilateral agreement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to re-target nuclear missiles toward Ukraine if it joins the Western military alliance. The ex-Soviet republic of Georgia is also seeking membership in the organization.
Some Western states remain cautious over the two countries' NATO bids, unwilling to further provoke Russia, which is wary of the alliance's ongoing eastward expansion.
