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NATO NOT TO INVITE UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT TO PRAGUE SUMMIT... NATO proposed on 30 October that a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission be held at the foreign ministers' level during the upcoming NATO Prague summit on 21-22 November, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reported. "The [NATO] decision was that a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Commission should be held at the level of foreign ministers," NATO spokesman Yves Brodeur told an RFE/RL correspondent. "Allies, as well, emphasized their commitment to the broadening and deepening of the relationship between NATO and Ukraine and, to that end, they also reiterated their commitment to the development and implementation of the action plan which we've been discussing with Ukraine," Brodeur added. Brodeur was asked if the alleged Ukrainian sale of a Kolchuga radar system to Iraq had something to do with President Leonid Kuchma not being invited to Prague: "I think that, essentially, we all know the circumstances that we've been dealing with here and, essentially, the decision was made taking into account those circumstances," Brodeur replied. JM

...AS KYIV SUGGESTS NATO 'MANIPULATION' OF UKRAINE. "Ukraine, as a great European state, cannot be an object of manipulation," UNIAN quoted Ukrainian Foreign Minister Anatoliy Zlenko as saying on 30 October. Zlenko was commenting on the NATO proposal that would exclude the participation of the Ukrainian president in the Prague summit. "A decision on the format of the Prague meeting should be adopted while taking into account Ukraine's real place and role in the current architecture of European security and the attained level of our cooperation with the alliance," Zlenko said in his written statement. Zlenko added, "We are thoroughly studying the NATO-proposed format for a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Commission as part of the Prague summit and we will soon inform our partners about our decision." He also stressed that Ukraine's strategic course toward Euro-Atlantic integration remains unchanged. JM