DONETSK, September 5 (RIA Novosti) - Potential Ukrainian presidential candidate and opposition pro-Russian Party of Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych on Saturday said he is confident Russian-Ukrainian relations will improve.

In an August 11 open letter to his Ukrainian counterpart, Viktor Yushchenko, Russian President Dmitry 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. Russia has also accused Ukraine of supplying weapons to Georgia during last year's war between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia.

"I believe the situation of today's Ukrainian-Russian relations is unhealthy," Yanukovych said, adding that relations could be easily remedied.

The former prime minister also noted that Ukraine needs to make a final decision on the status of the Russian language in order to make it the second state language. He said he was "confident" that after the presidential elections in Ukraine scheduled for January 2010, the "problem would be solved."

On the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian gas dispute, Yanukovych said last week he regretted that "the entire contractual base in gas relations developed by several Ukrainian governments has been ruined."

Last week he also said that Ukraine's "negligent leaders are pursuing a badly thought-out policy regarding our neighbors."