Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday that Moscow had "a chance" to improve relations with Ukraine after the election of the new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, adding, however, that he had "no illusions".
"There is a chance to improve cooperation with our country," Dmitry Medvedev, the first top Russian official, said on his Facebook page after Sunday's broad victory over Volodymyr Zelensky, a comedian with no political experience. in the Ukrainian presidential election.
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A new president in favor of a peace process
He added, however, that he had "no illusions" about Volodymyr Zelensky, assuring that "there is no doubt that the new head of state will use the same rhetoric towards Russia as that used during his campaign". The poll "showed a clear demand for a new approach to solving the problems of Ukraine", continues Dmitry Medvedev.
Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday he hoped to "revive" the peace process involving Russia over the war in the separatist Prussian east to "stop the fire" and release Ukrainian prisoners in Russia. During the election campaign, one of Petro Poroshenko's angles of attack was to ensure that his rival was too inexperienced to face Vladimir Putin's Russia.
Ukraine and Russia, two countries in conflict
The two countries have been at odds since 2014 and the pro-European Maidan movement, which caused the flight to Moscow of President Viktor Yanukovych. This movement was followed by the annexation by Russia of the Ukrainian Crimean Peninsula, and then a war in the east of the country with pro-Russian separatists who made nearly 13,000 dead.