Agence France-Presse,
KIEV: Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said Sunday controversial joint Ukraine-NATO military exercises will go ahead despite strong protests from those rejecting closer ties with the West.
In a presidential decree, Yushchenko also ordered authorities “to decide as a matter of urgency” on the expulsion of foreigners accused by Kiev of taking part in anti-NATO demonstrations in the Crimea.
The decree confirmed the decision taken on Friday by the Council for Security and National Defence.
The manoeuvres involving NATO members and their former Cold-War Warsaw Pact enemies, now participants in NATO's Partnership for Peace, have stirred up fierce opposition in Ukraine.
The former Soviet republic is split between those who favour maintaining a special relationship with Russia and those, like Yushchenko, who want to forge closer ties with Western powers.
The pro-Russian Regions party finished first in parliamentary elections held on March 26, but has not been able to form a government. The Communist party, well represented at the Crimea demonstrations, is also staunchly pro-Russian.
Hostility to the North Atlantic alliance is particularly strong in Crimea, where the Russian Black Sea fleet is based.
On Friday activists prevented around 100 US troops from reaching a Ukrainian army base in Crimea, Interfax reported, and several dozen people have been blocking the Crimean port of Feodosia since Monday in protest at the arrival of a US ship carrying materials.
There have also been protests at the nearby Starokrymsky training facility, where the Sea Breeze exercises are due to take place, Interfax reported.
Influential Ukrainian weekly Dzerkalo Tyjnia accused Russian secret services Saturday of having organised the protests.
