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Yushchenko says lack of Russian envoy means freeze in ties

© RIA Novosti . Sergey Guneyev / Go to the mediabankYushchenko
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The absence of a Russian ambassador in Kiev means that bilateral relations have been frozen, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko was quoted as saying in an interview with a Polish paper on Tuesday.

KIEV, September 8 (RIA Novosti) - The absence of a Russian ambassador in Kiev means that bilateral relations have been frozen, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko was quoted as saying in an interview with a Polish paper on Tuesday.

In an August 11 open letter to Yushchenko, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced that he was holding off sending Russia's new ambassador to Ukraine over Kiev's anti-Russian policies.

"The absence of the [Russian] ambassador means a freeze in relations," the Ukrainian leader said in an interview with Rzeczpospolita.

However, he said Ukraine was seeking "to maintain good cooperation with Russia" and that it was "against quarrels between Ukrainians and Russians."

Back in August, Medvedev blamed Kiev for the deterioration in relations between the two former Soviet republics, strained in recent years by gas disputes, Ukraine's desire to join NATO, and interpretations of the Soviet-era famine in Ukraine

During his two-day visit to Poland, a former Soviet-bloc country that has backed Ukraine's bid to join NATO and the EU, Yushchenko met with his Polish counterpart, Lech Kaczynski, and Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

He admitted that Russia did have influence on Ukraine's politics, though it was "increasingly less important."

Russian presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko earlier said commenting on Medvedev's message there was no talk of any break or freeze in bilateral relations.

Former Russian health minister, Mikhail Zurabov, who was appointed a Russian ambassador to Ukraine back in early August, is still in Moscow, presidential spokeswoman Natalia Timakova said on Tuesday.

She reiterated Medvedev's statement that Zurabov would be sent to Ukraine "when we think fit," and said there was still a chance that bilateral ties between Moscow and Kiev could "change" while the envoy was still in Moscow.

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