The two leaders said their talks focused on the European Union (EU) and NATO, which Poland hopes to join. "We had a very interesting discussion about NATO and the European Union," Bush told reporters after the meeting. "You can be an active member of the EU, a loyal member of the EU, and a friend of the United States at the same time." Bush and Kaczynski also discussed Poland's desire for NATO to expand to include its neighbor Ukraine by 2008. "I asked the president his advice on Ukraine," Bush said. "That's what friends do; they share information and share strategic thoughts." Kaczynski said they also talked about Poland's strained relations with Russia. Poland, where memories of domination by Russia during the Cold War are still fresh, angered Moscow with its support for Ukraine's so-called "Orange Revolution," in which pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko won election over a candidate backed by Russia. "There have been certain signals that might lead to an improvement of relations between the Republic of Poland and the Russian Federation," Kaczynski said. "We have no certainty yet, but these signals we have received, and we're hoping for an improvement in relations between Poland and Russia." In addition to discussing Ukraine, where a recent natural-gas dispute with Russia severely disrupted supplies to Poland, the two leaders addressed Belarus, where there is concern that upcoming presidential elections will not be free or fair. "We discussed issues relating to freedom in the Ukraine and Belarus," Kaczynski said. "The support of the United States for all actions that are leading to freedom in Ukraine and Belarus are very important for Poland." Earlier this week, the Bush administration said it did not expect Belarus-which it described as the "last dictatorship in Europe"-to hold fair presidential elections on March 19 and stressed that it did not support President Alexander Lukashenko's re-election bid.--SPA 13 34 Local Time 10 34 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/329341