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Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and Foreign Minister Kostiantyn Hryschenko are good news for possible improvement of Moscow-Kyiv relations. Moscow, March 11 (Interfax) - Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and Foreign Minister Kostiantyn Hryschenko are good news for possible improvement of Moscow-Kyiv relations, Russian political experts said on March 11.

"These nominations will have a positive effect on Russia-Ukraine relations. Obviously, Mykola Azarov is much more interested in cooperation with our country than his predecessor Yulia Tymoshenko," Polity Foundation President Vyacheslav Nikonov told Interfax on Thursday.

The appointments show that Kyiv is prepared for further rapprochement with Moscow, he said.

"Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Mr. Poroshenko was more interested in Russia than Yulia Tymoshenko because he was doing business in Russia. However, Poroshenko was ideologically inclined to the position of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. Therefore, the latest appointments show that the Azarov government will target for closer relations with Moscow," Nikonov said.

"We must remember though that there is a certain limit to this rapprochement," he said.

The nomination of politician and businessman Sergiy Tigipko for a governmental position seriously strengthened the political status of President Viktor Yanukovych, Nikonov said.

"This strengthens the political position of the Ukrainian president and neutralizes Tigipko to a certain extent. He would have been much less valuable for Yanukovych as an opposition member," he noted.

People oriented at better relations with Russia have become members of the Ukrainian government, Political Studies Institute Director Sergei Markov said.

"There is no doubt that Mykola Azarov feels positive about Russia, as he always delivers his speeches in Russian. In fact, this is good news for supporters of an improvement in Russia-Ukraine relations," he told Interfax.

The new foreign minister will also do away with Russophobic feelings spread by the previous president, Viktor Yuschenko, he said.

"Hryschenko is a natural diplomat. It seems that his main goal is to cleanse the Foreign Ministry of the Russophobic 'fifth column'," Markov said.

The change of government is an important event, which signifies the Ukrainian exit from the four-year political crisis, he said.