Russia recognizes elections, calls for new approaches

The Russian government has recognized Ukraine’s
election results, which show “a clear demand for new approaches to resolving
Ukraine’s problems,” said Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. “I don’t have
any doubt that the state’s new leader will uphold his rhetoric regarding Russia
that he used during the elections campaign,” he said in an Apr. 22 Facebook
post. Chances for improving cooperation with our country exist, Medvedev said,
calling for an “approach that takes into account all the political realities
that have emerged in Ukraine. Including the situation in Ukraine’s east. So the
main thing is it’s worth wishing the new Ukrainian leadership prudence.”
Relations between Russia and Ukraine should be higher than the political
landscape, as only on this basis can ruined economic cooperation be renewed,
Medvedev wrote.

In the first official Russian reaction to the election
results, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said “Ukraine may
implement a reset” in relations. “Not in the sense of redistributing money
streams from one pockets to others,” she said in a Facebook post. “But a true
(reset), based on realizing the need to consolidate the (Ukrainian) people not
on the basis of force, but on the basis of developing a common national order.
So that the next time, (Ukraine) doesn’t exclude from voting millions of its
own citizens, as this time.” She was referring to the residents of parts of the
Donetsk and Luhansk regions, who are living under a Russian-backed occupation
government that has waged war with the Ukrainian government.

Zenon Zawada: The Kremlin
has welcomed Zelenskiy’s victory, but has also wasted no time in putting immediate pressure
on him to fulfill his campaign promises on reaching a Donbas ceasefire, which
we believe is only possible with some form of concessions or capitulation. And
the Kremlin is sure to make reaching a ceasefire as difficult as possible for
Zelenskiy, being in the geopolitical position of not having to compromise much,
especially with the Ukrainian public demonstrating its exhaustion. The Kremlin
is about to score another victory next month, when populist-nationalist forces
make gains in the EU parliamentary elections. It is also making progress in the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, where it’s making progress to
remove sanctions.

Zelenskiy said he’s committed to fulfill the Minsk
Accords, but even that outcome would alienate a large section of the Ukrainian
public, which was dissatisfied with them from the moment they were published.
We share the view that their fulfillment would be harmful for the prospects of
Ukrainian statehood and Western integration. It’s entirely possible that
Ukrainian President Poroshenko agreed to the Minsk Accords with the expectation
that they would never be fulfilled. Now a new president has emerged that may do
what Poroshenko had never intended.

It’s not the least bit clear at this point how
Zelenskiy will try to achieve a ceasefire in Donbas and fulfill the Minsk
Accords. What is certain is that whatever decision he reaches – including not
doing anything – will antagonize a large section of the Ukrainian public.
Zelenskiy’s election confirms that the Russian strategy in Ukraine has been
effective in weakening the country, and keeping it in its geopolitical sphere
of influence.