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Russia ready for contacts with Ukraine’s parliament after elections — upper house speaker

According to Valentina Matviyenko, Russia would like to establish normal, good-neighborly relations with Kiev and the fraternal Ukrainian people

MOSCOW, May 28. /TASS/. Russia is prepared to develop contacts with Ukrainian parliamentarians after the elections to the Verkhovna Rada, but without any unnecessary conditions on their part, Speaker of the Russian Federation Council (upper house of parliament) Valentina Matviyenko told TASS on Tuesday.

"We are ready for contacts, but without the policy of dictating, without any artificial, unnecessary conditions. Let’s start from scratch, analyze the current state of affairs and how we can remedy the situation and move ahead together," she said.

"We are open to and ready for dialogue. We are waiting for such signals from new [Verkhovna] Rada members and are ready to work to restore and normalize Russian-Ukrainian relations," she added.

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According to the speaker, Russia would like to establish normal, good-neighborly relations with Kiev and the fraternal Ukrainian people. "If the [Verkhovna] Rada is interested in reviving the dialogue with Russia, we will only welcome that," she stressed.

Matviyenko expressed the hope that the elections to the Ukrainian parliament would be civilized and democratic and that lawmakers committed to resolving economic issues facing the country and improving living standards of the population would be elected to it.

"The country is currently in a dire economic situation. I hope that lawmakers will be concerned about the declining living standards of the population and about the fact that more than 10 million people, according to Ukrainians themselves, went to other countries in search of a better life," she added.

Vladimir Zelensky was sworn in as Ukraine’s new President on May 20. On May 21, he signed a decree dissolving the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) and announcing snap parliamentary elections scheduled for July 21.

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Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky

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