Russia-Ukraine relations unlikely to thaw soon under Ukraine's new president

Candidate actor Volodymyr Zelensky casts his ballot at a polling station in Kiev, Ukrain, April 21, 2019. Ukraine's presidential candidates, incumbent President Petro Poroshenko and actor Volodymyr Zelensky, on Sunday cast their ballots in the second round of the country's presidential election. (Xinhua/Sergey)

MOSCOW/KIEV, April 22 (Xinhua) -- The longtime standoff between Russia and Ukraine is unlikely to be resolved in the near future under Ukraine's president-elect Volodymyr Zelensky, analysts of both countries have said.

Zelensky, a comedian that once played a fictitious president in a popular TV series, won the country's presidential election on Sunday by gaining over 73 percent of the votes in the second round against incumbent president Petro Poroshenko, who garnered over 24 percent of the ballots.

"The result showed an explicit request for new approaches in solving the problems of Ukraine," Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Monday on Facebook.

The 41-year-old Zelensky, with little political experience, has yet to elaborate on how he will run the country on the frontline of confrontation between Russia and the West.

FRAGILE HOPE

Medvedev said there were opportunities for improving Russia-Ukraine relations that have been missed for years over Crimea and Donbass.

"We need a pragmatic and responsible approach, which takes into account all the political realities in Ukraine, including primarily the situation in the east of the country," he wrote.

Medvedev urged "sanity" and an understanding of the deep value of relations between the two peoples.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that it is premature to talk about Russian President Vladimir Putin's congratulations to Zelensky or their cooperation until Zelensky takes concrete steps.

"I think the direction concerning contacts with Russia will be a priority for us. We need to look for a way out of the situation, and we need to end the war in the near future," said Ruslan Stefanchuk, a representative from the Servant of the People party, which nominated Zelensky for the presidency.

"Zelensky is the president of hopes. This is the person who personifies the hopes of Ukrainian citizens for another policy, another president, and another country," said Vladimir Zharikhin, deputy director of the Commonwealth of Independent States Institute, a think tank that studies the former Soviet republics.

But he doubted whether Zelensky will succeed in materializing these hopes as he faces huge obstacles.

"Ukraine's economy is in a terrible state. The situation in Donbass is deadlocked and the relations with Russia are at their lowest point. Without solving these problems, he will not succeed," Zharikhin said.

INSOLUBLE PROBLEMS

"In the best scenario, a 'cold peace' awaits us. Any partnership is out of the question in the foreseeable future. The reason for this is all the same -- Crimea and Donbass," said Volodymyr Fesenko, director of Ukraine's Penta Center for Applied Political Studies.

"Under the rule of Zelensky, there will be no improvement in relations with Russia. The policy and rhetoric of the Kremlin will remain the same, and the new president of Ukraine will not drastically change the course," said Andrei Zolotarev, an analyst at the Kiev-based analytical center Third Sector.

Ukraine officially ended the key Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership with Russia on April 1, which was signed in 1997, as Poroshenko said it is "a part of the Ukrainian strategy of reorientation towards Europe."

In the latest sign of worsened ties, Russia last week banned exports of oil and some oil products to Ukraine, as well as imports of some Ukrainian engineering products.

The improvement in Moscow-Kiev relations depends on U.S.-Russia ties, said political analyst Alexandr Gushchin of the Russian State University for the Humanities.

"In fact, it is not so important who would come to power. The current Ukraine is designed as 'anti-Russian,' so it is almost impossible to change this in the near future," said Yevgeny Minchenko, director of Russia's International Institute of Political Expertise.

Minchenko said not a single Ukrainian politician, including Zelensky, is currently able to drop the slogan "Russia is an aggressor country.