Yuschenko fears Ukraine could turn into Belarus

Viktor Yuschenko has criticized the policies being conducted by the current government.

"When I meet with President [Viktor Yanukovych], I have one goal – [convince him that] Ukraine needs to change its political course," he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Yuschenko said that Ukraine was losing partners and friends in the West and the East.

"The EU-Ukraine Association Agreement has been shelved... The same can be said about the document on a free trade area with the EU, which is now completely frozen ... The talks on the visa-free regime and the modernization of the Ukrainian gas transport system are also frozen. I'm confident that this kind of policy does not meet our national interests," he said.

Yuschenko said that "the future of Ukraine is in Europe, and I'm confident that any spot in this direction is working on a political project - Belarus-2. They want to make us a copy of [that] country."

He said that if Ukraine joins the Asian project, it would be deprived of European prospects forever. Yuschenko said that the Customs Union pursued one goal – "to bury a free trade area between Ukraine and the EU, work on which has been carried out for five years."

"The political processes that are taking place in Ukraine indicate that discomfort is coming to our lives," Yuschenko said.