First Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada and Co-Chairperson of the Ukraine-NATO interparliamentary council Andrii Parubii opened the meeting of the interparliamentary council in Kyiv on Monday, June 8.

A.Parubii reminded that in 2008, the Bucharest summit acknowledged Ukraine's right to become a member of NATO to guarantee security in Ukraine and all around the world.

He said that recently the Verkhovna Rada introduced amendments into the Laws of Ukraine on fundamentals of national security, on principles of internal and external policy, where it enshrined the priority Euro-Atlantic development of our country.

Parubii pointed to extremely important role of the Ukraine-NATO interparliamentary council "as a bilateral monitoring body to provide effective promotion of Ukraine towards the Euro-Atlantic integration."

He welcomed representatives of almost 15 NATO member countries in the walls of the Verkhovna Rada.

Parubii noted the readiness to "in every way facilitate the work of the offsite meeting of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Committee for economy and security, in the frames of which report entitled "Current situation in Ukraine and its prospects" will be prepared for second reading."

Co-Head of Ukraine-NATO Interparliamentary Council from NATO Parliamentary Assembly Raynell Andreychuk said Ukraine has the largest associated delegation at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

She reminded that the NATO Parliamentary Assembly had called on the world community to support sanctions against those involved in the acts of violence against participants of the rally on Maidan Nezalezhnosti square in Kyiv in 2013-2014.

Raynell Andreychuk also said Ukraine is fighting for its independence and thus, it is a must for the world community to support the country on this way. She said "Russia must pay for the violation of the international law."

She said the Ukrainian people have to decided whether they want Ukraine to enter NATO. At present, Ukraine and its parliamentarians are "top-priority audience" for the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, she said.

According to the web-portal of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine