Rice to hold talks in Ukraine with Yushchenko

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today planned talks in the Ukrainian capital Kiev with President Viktor Yushchenko, who came to power after the US called his election loss fraudulent and urged a new election.

Yushchenko and Rice were expected to discuss the pro-Western leader’s ambitions of membership in the European Union and Nato.

Also on the agenda are Ukraine’s hopes to receive US recognition as a market economy and to win the United States’ backing for its World Trade Organisation membership bid.

Rice also planned talks with Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov and Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk.

Yushchenko’s rise to power amid last year’s Orange Revolution election fraud protest helped warm relations between the ex-Soviet republic and Washington.