Medvedev acknowledges problems in relations during Yanukovych visit

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met for the second time this year in Sochi, a Russian Black Sea resort, according to the presidential websites. Medvedev, in remarks before the bilateral discussion published on the official Kremlin website, said that relations with Ukraine were developing, but “this does not mean there are no problems; there are plenty.” Brad Wells: Local media has been speculating that Russia is cool to Kyiv’s requests to lower its gas price. Despite a statement by Yanukovych ahead of the meeting that it would be one of the topics, there were no comments immediately following the meeting on the issue. Instead, official statements coming out of the meeting focused on the somewhat nebulous goal of improving trade and economic cooperation and Ukraine studying Russia’s preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in preparation for its own bid to host the 2022 Olympic Games. Of potential note was mention of an “exchange of views” on joint projects in energy, space, aviation, shipbuilding, transportation, agricultural and military technical cooperation. This is substantially similar to language that came out of their meetings last year and thus could indeed be more boilerplate filler than actual plans for the near future.