Ukraine must participate in efforts to build collective security for Europe, one of the country's presidential candidates and an opposition leader said.

"Ukraine should take an active part in developing a European collective security system," pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych, who leads the opposition Party of Regions, told the Freedom of Speech program on ICTV Monday evening.

Yanukovych also spoke for the ex-Soviet state's further cooperation with NATO, but stressed that it should stay outside of the alliance.

The pro-Western leaderships of Ukraine and Georgia have been seeking to join the Western military alliance, but at the NATO summit in April 2008, members refused to admit the post-Soviet countries into the Membership Action Plan (MAP), a key step for membership.

KIEV, November 24 (RIA Novosti)