MOSCOW, April 10. /TASS/. Resignation of Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk is unlikely to change anything in the domestic and foreign policy of that country, a Russian senior lawmaker said on Sunday.
"I don’t think this resignation will bring about any visible changes in the domestic or foreign policy," Frants Klintsevich, the first deputy chairman of the defense and security committee of Russia’s Federation Council upper parliament house, told journalists.
He said Yatsenyuk has had an adverse impact on relations between his country and Russia and "anyone who succeeds him will have to act in about the same system of coordinates."
The Russian lawmaker said he expects the new government of Ukraine to announce its commitment to the Minsk agreements. "It is absolutely obvious that any reforms in Ukraine are impossible without peace settlement of the conflict in Donbass," Klintsevich said.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk said earlier on Sunday he is stepping down as Ukraine’s prime minister. He said the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) will consider the issue of his resignation early next week. "The resignation will be handed in to the Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday, April 12," he said.
In his words, the political crisis in Ukraine has been deliberately instigated. "The desire to change one man has stricken politicians blind" and "the process of the government overhaul has turned into an unreflecting running in place," he said explaining his motives.
Following Yatsenyuk’s statement, President Petro Poroshenko said he is ready for any prime minister but would prefer to see Vladimir Groisman, the current speaker of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) in the premier’s office.