SIMFEROPOL, March 18. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin is certain that it is impossible to come to terms with the current Ukrainian leadership, and Moscow will wait for the common sense to prevail in Kiev.
"The Russian and Ukrainian peoples have never quarreled, and I am strongly convinced that they are not at odds with each other now. We only have a misunderstanding with the current Ukrainian leadership, and it is hardly possible to come to terms with it and achieve some positive results in in our relations," the head of state said at a meeting with members of the public of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.
The Russian leader assured that Moscow would be ready to build relations with Kiev when "the common sense prevails" there. "I hope that the wave of various pre-election situations and combinations in Ukraine wrapped up in Russophobia, which we currently see, will subside, and at least some conditions for developing interstate relations will be created," Putin said.
He stressed that "Ukrainians are the third biggest ethnic group in Russia: Russians followed by Tatars (about five million), three million Ukrainians." "I am one hundred percent sure that Ukrainians do not feel disadvantaged in any way, including in Crimea," he noted. According to Putin," the level of relationship between people has always been and will be very serious."
"People (in Ukraine) are just intimidated. They are even afraid to call their relatives in Russia. Ukraine’s Security Service will eavesdrop on [telephone conversations], and there will be no end to problems," the president said. "Time is a great healer. I am confident that the deep roots of our common history, culture and faith will take the upper hand over today’s political considerations," Putin added.