Moscow Says Hopes Kiev To Switch To Dialogue With Russia After Ukraine's Presidential Vote

Russia hopes that a course for constructive dialogue with Russia, rather than one for confrontation, will prevail in Ukraine after the latter's upcoming presidential election, Russian State Secretary and Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told Sputnik in an interview on Monday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th February, 2019) Russia hopes that a course for constructive dialogue with Russia, rather than one for confrontation, will prevail in Ukraine after the latter's upcoming presidential election, Russian State Secretary and Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told Sputnik in an interview on Monday.

"Moscow hopes that Ukraine will sooner or later 'sober up,' and politicians capable of meeting their obligations and assessing the situation realistically will come to power. I would like to believe that a constructive dialogue, not a confrontational approach, with Russia will prevail in Kiev," Karasin said.

The diplomat added that Russia was ready for a constructive dialogue with Ukraine on the basis of core interests of the two nations rather than the interests of Ukrainian politicians.

The presidential election in Ukraine is scheduled for March 31. The campaign was launched on December 31, 2018, along with the registration of candidates. On Friday, the Ukrainian Election Commission announced that 44 candidates had been registered to compete for the presidency, which is a new record.

The leader of the Ukrainian political party Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) and former Ukrainian prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, had been leading the polls for several months but was outrun in late January by comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy.