You're reading: Azarov: Russian leaders respect Yanukovych, positions of Ukraine

Russia's leadership respects Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, and has started taking into consideration Ukraine's opinions, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has said.

"I’m well aware of the real attitude of the Russian leadership to [President] Viktor Fedorovych [Yanukovych]: he is respected and they take his position into account," the prime minister told Inter TV Channel on Friday night while commenting on Wikileaks allegations that the Russian leadership dislikes the current president of Ukraine.

"This is our most important achievement. Previously [the Russians] didn’t take Ukraine’s opinion into consideration, and imposed any conditions they wanted, [but] now they’ve started taking Ukraine’s position into account," he said.