Ukraine’s president should enter constructive dialogue with Russia — Georgian PM
“Georgia is an example for the countries, which on the one hand turn into an (integral) part of Europe and on the other intend to maintain normal and constructive relations with Russia,” he says
BERLIN, June 02./ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine’s newly elected President Petro Poroshenko should develop a “constructive dialogue with Russia” as soon as possible, Georgian Prime Minister Irakly Garibashvili said on Monday.
The Georgian premier, who is currently on an official visit to Germany said after his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Monday that the ongoing crisis in Ukraine “is of great concern.”
“Georgia is an example for the countries, which on the one hand turn into an (integral) part of Europe and on the other intend to maintain normal and constructive relations with Russia,” Garibashvili said.
Relations between neighboring Russia and Ukraine are strained by Moscow’s recent decision to up prices for the Russian natural gas supplies and the secession of the Republic of Crimea from Ukraine, a move that eventually led to the republic’s merger with Russia.
Political and economic turmoil has embraced Ukraine after a coup rocked the country in February following months of anti-government protests, often violent, triggered by President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to suspend the signing of an association agreement with the EU in November 2013 in order to study the deal more thoroughly.
Amid deadly riots that involved radicals in February 2014, new people were brought to power in Kiev. Yanukovych had to leave Ukraine citing security concerns the same month. Moscow does not recognize the new self-proclaimed Ukrainian authorities, who appear unable to restrain radicals and ultranationalists.
Ukraine’s crisis deteriorated further when the Republic of Crimea, where most residents are Russians, reunified with Russia on March 18 after a referendum two days earlier in which an overwhelming majority of Crimeans voted to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation. Crimea's reunification urge was caused by the republic's refusal to recognize the new Kiev authorities.
Massive protests against the new Ukrainian leaders erupted in Ukraine’s Russian-speaking south-eastern regions in March after Crimea's merger with Russia.