KIEV, May 25 ??“ President Viktor Yushchenko, in his address to lawmakers on Thursday, singled out Ukraine??™s relations with the U.S. as ???strategic partnership,??? while relations with Russia had been downgraded to ???possessing equal rights.???

Ukraine has been calling relations with both, Russia and the U.S., strategic partnership since the country had won independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991, but that had changed last year.