KIEV, June 3 - Ukraine will strictly adhere to a non-aligned status and intends to actively participate in the development of a collective security system within the European Union and NATO, President Viktor Yanukovych said.

"The main task of foreign policy and defense policy is to protect national interests in the world. Then comes the issue of instruments [to do this], and a non-aligned policy is among them," he said in his state-of-the-nation address at Kiev's Ukraina Palace on Thursday.