MOSCOW, August 12 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's claims that Kiev was responsible for deteriorating relations with Moscow were aimed at President Yushchenko, not the entire country, a senior Kremlin official said on Wednesday.
"There cannot be any aggression. There is a calm and balanced assertion of how the policies of Ukraine's incumbent president have affected Russian-Ukrainian relations. Therefore, the message was aimed at him [Viktor Yushchenko] personally," Alexei Gromov, a deputy Kremlin administration chief, said.
He rejected comments made by Ukrainian presidential aide Vera Ulyanchenko earlier on Wednesday who said Medvedev's "aggressive" message was to the entire Ukrainian state and nation.
In a video message to Yushchenko on Tuesday, Medvedev said he was holding off sending Mikhail Zurabov Russia's new envoy to Ukraine over Kiev's anti-Russian policies.
Gromov described the attitude of the Russian president and Russian people towards Ukraine as "exclusively respectful, warm and fraternal."
"Fraternal nations should not be separated, we share a common historical and spiritual heritage," Medvedev said in his message.
The Russian leader expressed hope that Ukraine's new political leadership would be ready "to build such relations between our countries that will answer the true aspirations of our nations, and serve the interests of strengthening European security."
Presidential polls in Ukraine are slated for January 17. Yushchenko's popularity is currently in single digits.
Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been strained in recent years following a number of gas disputes, Ukraine's desire to join NATO and EU, and the Soviet-era famine in Ukraine.
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