KIEV, Feb. 18 - The parliamentary and government crisis must not impede the Ukrainian people's advancement into the European Union, President Petro Poroshenko said at a meeting with Euromaidan activists.

"The crisis must not stop the process for which such a price has been paid, and into which so much effort has been invested. It is for Ukrainians to be given the next degree of freedom, the freedom to freely travel the world. It is for the Ukrainian passport, the new, biometrical one, to be respected," Poroshenko told the activists after revealing that he had addressed the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, calling on the deputies to pass the "non-visa bills" in a version compliant with the EU requirements, as soon as this evening.