Leonid Kravchuk
Relations between Russia and Ukraine can once again become neighborly, if Moscow will return control of Kiev, the Crimea, the conflict will be resolved in the Donbas. On Wednesday, August 23, the first President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk said in an interview with “Facts.”
According to him, both parties is beneficial neighbourly relations. “First, the limits of such length, as the Ukrainian-Russian, we no longer have any government. Second, 22 percent of the Ukrainian population is Russian. Russian is spoken by almost half of Ukrainians. Our history is linked for centuries. We have families, economic relations, trade, tourism, culture. I’d like to see it restored,” — said Kravchuk.
He expressed the opinion that Russia for the restoration of relations should not interfere in the internal Affairs of Ukraine. “We do not interfere in the internal Affairs of Russia, not the deployment of troops on its territory. If she doesn’t understand the main thing — that to force Ukraine to submit to Russia is impossible, we will have to fight to the last,” said the former head of state.
July 20, Kravchuk said that Kiev has lost control over Crimea and Donbas due to the fact that during the Maidan the government and the opposition are unable to agree with each other. According to him, dialogue was disrupted because of the ambitions of the parties to the conflict, the faith, the power that “power on her side.”
Relations between Kyiv and Moscow deteriorated sharply after the reunification of the Crimea with Russia in March 2014 and the beginning of the conflict in the Donbass in April of the same year. Ukraine regularly accuses neighbor in the conduct of hostilities in the South-East of its territory and calls the aggressor. Moscow denies the accusations, pointing to the lack of evidence.