Problems in Russian-Ukrainian relations prompted by Yuschenko's position - Medvedev

15:10

Difficulties in relations between Moscow and Kyiv have been prompted by Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko's position, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said.

"Yes, there is quite bitter polemics between us, but not between our societies and surely not between our states on the whole. To be absolutely frank, this polemics and all these problems concern only one person - the incumbent president of Ukraine," Medvedev said in an interview with Der Spiegel.

"Yes, I do believe that the president of Ukraine has assumed a very unconstructive position toward my country. Russophobic attitudes dominate him. Anything he has done in the past years has been aimed at ruining traditional ties between Ukraine and Russia," Medvedev said.

"This has been accompanied by very unpleasant and, I would say, deplorable things, such as the severance of economic agreements, glorification of Nazi henchmen, or a desire to rewrite history. A decision to expel these or those diplomats is just an unfriendly step. And this needed a response," he said.

"Ukraine will hold elections soon. I hope that forces with more pragmatic approaches toward our contacts will ultimately appear at the helm of that country," Medvedev said.

A Russian "ambassador will surely come to Ukraine and start performing his duties," he said.

Medvedev said his open letter and a video address to Yuschenko in his videoblog of August 11 was an extreme form of response, "so that everybody should know the motives for my action."

"I deem it honest, this is not some behind-the-scenes diplomacy when we smile to each other and try to show that everything is good between us but in fact play petty dirty tricks on each other," he said.

"There is no conflict between Russia and Ukraine. These are very close and brotherly countries maintaining very considerable economic relations," Medvedev said.

"Even despite the crisis, our trade amounts to billions of dollars," he said.

"Our Ukrainian friends told us two days ago that they didn't have money to pay for gas. We remember the January conflict. We agreed on the rules of the work and agreed that, if they cannot pay, they should care about loans in advance. Otherwise, we will switch to prepayments for gas supplies," Medvedev said.

"And still a problem occurred. In my view, this is related to the ongoing election campaign in Ukraine, in which one government branch is trying to obstruct another in an attempt to gain political points," he said.

"I wish for our Ukrainian friends to reach stability as soon as possible, and then all of us will find it easier to work with them, I mean the Russian Federation and the united Europe," Medvedev said.

07.11.2009