MOSCOW, April 14. /TASS/. Chairman of the State Duma lower house Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Leonid Slutsky does not expect any improvements in the Russian-Ukrainian relations over the appointment of Vladimir Groysman to the post of Ukraine’s Prime Minister.
"As for the Russian-Ukrainian relations, unfortunately, one cannot expect any improvements here, including in the inter-parliamentary ties, which was confirmed during the period when Groysman was the Verkhovna Rada speaker," he said on Thursday commenting on the latest changes in the Ukrainian government.
According to Slutsky, Groysman is a technical figure loyal, first and foremost, to President Petro Poroshenko. "It’s just Petro Poroshenko’s maneuver designed to appoint ‘the right person’ and avoid further decline in his standing as the president in the country," he said.
Slutsky noted that "one should not link any hopes for economic recovery and social development of Ukraine" to Groysman’s appointment. "Considering the current general collapse, Ukraine needs external infusions. And those in the West who made Ukraine an external management territory continue to use it as a tool for defaming Russia in the global political information space and are hardly really interested in restoring this country," he said.
Earlier on Thursday, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada endorsed Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s resignation and appointed Vladimir Groysman the new prime minister. The parliament also revoked the decision on the unsatisfactory performance of Yatsenyuk’s government. A total of 257 MPs backed this package of documents, above the required minimum of 226 votes. Groysman promised to show what it means to rule the state as Ukraine’s prime minister.