RUSSIALINK: “Putin hopes relations with Ukraine will be restored in full” – Interfax

VLADIVOSTOK. Sept 3 (Interfax) – Russian President Vladimir Putin is hopeful that relations with Ukraine will be restored in full sooner or later.

“Of course, I very much hope so, because I think that the situation that we face today is absolutely unacceptable, unnatural. Sooner or later, but better sooner rather than later, we will restore our relations with Ukraine in full,” Putin said at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum when asked whether the Ukrainian president might attend the Vladivostok or St. Petersburg economic forums at some point.

It depends on the Ukrainian people whether this president will be Volodymyr Zelensky, he said.

“If President Zelensky is reelected and if he actually pursues a policy in favor of normalizing relations with Russia not in word, but in deed, then why not? Of course, yes,” Putin said.

The Russian president expressed regret that what one can see in practice is quite the opposite. More than one generation of Ukrainian politicians has come to power with slogans in favor of restoring relations with Russia, “but then they shamelessly deceive their voters, actually pursuing completely the opposite policy,” he said.

“This happens under pressure from far-right nationalists. The impression is that after they enter their high-ranking offices, these leaders begin fearing exactly this part of Ukrainian society and do everything possible to satisfy their ambitions,” Putin said.

[article also appeared at interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/72603/]