Ukraine was ready to open its missile defense network to cooperate with Western countries, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

The Russian leader signed a law on the abrogation of the agreement with Ukraine on early warning and space monitoring systems in February.

Russia's withdrawal from a bilateral defense agreement allowed Ukraine to make new deals with Western countries on missile warning systems and satellite tracking, the statement said.

"The fact that Ukraine is no longer a party to the ... 1992 agreement allows it to launch active cooperation with Western countries to integrate its stations with ... governments with an interest in receiving data of the situation in space," said the statement.

President Viktor Yushchenko issued a decree this week putting an end to Ukraine's participation in the accord in view of Russia' s own abrogation of the deal, which had been signed in Moscow in July 1992.

(Xinhua News Agency August 17, 2008)