Ukrainian political experts have forecast that Ukrainian-Russian relations will become more pragmatic in 2008, and that both countries will consolidate their assets.
“In a year or year-and-ahalf, the political process in Ukraine will be influenced not by Ukrainian oligarchs, but by the Ukrainian-Russian (financial) alliance, which will more pragmatically build relations with political forces from the view of support for investing their interests into politics,” Director of the Sofia Social Research Centre Andriy Yermolaev told Interfax.
In his opinion, despite numerous statements on Ukraine’s moving westward toward European integration, almost all of the financial and industrial groups in the country consolidated their assets with Russian companies in 2007.
Yermolaev said Ukrainian- Russian relations would become more pragmatic in 2008. He said that Ukraine would not just be a partner for Russia in 2008, but also a competitor on the weapons and metals markets, in machine-building and other sectors. Deputy Director of the Razumkov Centre for Economic and Political Research Valery Chaly, in turn, expressed hope that the two countries would hold a meeting of the interstate commission at the highest level and endorse a cooperation plan for next year.