Ukraine is “destined to good, kind relations with our great neighbor [Russia]," Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said during a Feb. 17 appearance on the Shuster LIVE television program.
Referring to a cooling in bilateral relations that has been detected as Kyiv continues pressuring Moscow for lower prices on Russian natural gas imports, Azarov said he expects Ukrainian-Russian relations to improve after presidential elections are held on March 4 in the Russian Federation.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin hopes to make a return as president, but a recent flurry of large pro-democracy protests has tested his longstanding grip on political power in Russia. Political pundits have theorized that Putin has tried to appear tough in negotiations with Ukraine ahead of the vote.
Azarov predicted that bilateral relations will improve after the Russian election.
“The process is inevitable. When this election campaign ends, our relations will develop increasingly,” Interfax-Ukraine news agency quoted him as saying during the appearance on Shuster LIVE television program.
"We need to take into consideration that there is a big country with its own interests next door to us. Our task is to make them take into account our interests, and we, of course, will reckon with theirs,” Azarov’s press service quoted him as saying.
