Russia worries about a knife in the back from “brothers” while it’s turned towards South America, the Mideast and the Orient…
MOSCOW, August 11 (Itar-Tass) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has for the first time made an addressto the Internet users in his video blog with explanations of his open message to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.
In the address to the Internet audience the Russian leader noted at once that his message to the leader of the neighbouring country “is not an ordinary document” containing “a number of complex, unflattering assessments of the actions of the top political leadership of Ukraine.”
Explaining the reasons for such an untraditional genre for politically correct diplomacy Medvedev noted: “The Ukrainian and Russian public have recently expressed concern over our bilateral relations. Ukrainian politicians have themselves admitted that their (relations) level is at an unprecedented low level at present and it is hard to disagree with that. Tensions in relations between Russia and Ukraine are indeed running over the top.”
“I have repeatedly said that Russia seeks to be a predictable, strong and comfortable partner for its neighbours, the more so for a country with the people of which we have common historical and cultural roots,” the RF president said adding that “not simply neighbourly, but as is customarily supposed, brotherly relations.”
Citing from memory a saying of the “great son of the Ukrainian and Russian people” writer Nikolai Gogol: “no bonds are holier than comradeship,” the RF president noted that “celebrating his jubilee we again remembered these words. This celebration has become another bright illustration of spiritual closeness of our peoples.”
According to the president, “The more contrasting against this background look the present, to put it mildly, uneasy relations between the two states.” “Let us look what is happening specifically,” he suggested. “Official Kiev has taken the openly anti-Russian position in connection with the military attack of the Saakashvili regime on South Ossetia. It is from Ukrainian weapons that peaceful civilians and Russian peacekeepers were killed. In violation of the fundamental agreements between our countries the course towards obstructing the activity of the Russian Black Sea Fleet continues daily. Unfortunately, campaigns for ousting the Russian language from Ukrainian mass media, from the education sphere, from culture and science do not subside. The smooth on the face of it rhetoric of the Ukrainian leadership mismatches the explicit distortion of the complicated, difficult periods of our common history, tragic events of the great famine in the Soviet Union, the same as the interpretation of the Great Patriotic War as a kind of confrontation between totalitarian systems,” Medvedev said.
Proceeding to the economic block of the bilateral issues, the RF president noted that the “economic relations are developing, of course, but we cannot so far fully employ their potential. The reason for this is the same – Russian companies have to regularly face the open counteraction of the Ukrainian authorities. The Ukrainian top political leadership, bypassing Russia, reaches agreement with the European Union’s leadership on the issue of supplies to Europe of natural gas, by the way, our Russian gas, and signs a document that absolutely does not correspond to the January Russian-Ukrainian agreements.”
However, he stressed, “Whatever complexes and illusions direct the actions of some Ukrainian functionaries, we will always treasure the brotherly ties with the Ukrainian people, will strengthen our humanitarian cooperation. That is why we plan to open in several Ukrainian cities branches of the Russian Science and Culture Centre, we will support in every possible way Ukrainians living in our country in their aspiration to develop their national culture.”
Analysing the bilateral relations in the cultural and spiritual spheres Medvedev noted: “The recent pastoral visit of Patriarch Kirill to Ukraine was of major importance. I talked to the Patriarch on his return and he told me about his impressions. He said very warm words. Our views on this matter coincide: the brotherly nations cannot be divided, as we have the common historical and spiritual heritage.”
According to the Russian president, he is “certain that our relations with the Ukrainian people will survive any problems. They cannot be destroyed by lucrative interests of politicians, by the volatile world conjuncture, by mistakes of separate executives, the more so they cannot be drowned in idle talk or pseudo historical studies.” “I am certain that new times are inevitably coming. But in the current situation I have made a decision not to send to Ukraine our ambassador. He will get down to work later. The timeframe will be specified with taking into account the real dynamics of our relations,” Medvedev emphasised.
Ending his address, Medvedev who talked to Internet users against the backdrop of a picturesque sea panorama from his Sochi residence, expressed confidence that “the multifaceted relations between Russia and Ukraine will certainly come back, but at a qualitatively new level – the level of strategic partnership. And this time is not far off.”
“I hope that the new Ukrainian leadership will be ready for this. We for our part will also do everything that depends on us,” the Russian president stressed.
