Russia's new ambassador to Ukraine, Mikhail Zurabov, arrived in Kiev on 25 January. He is replacing Russia's former prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, who had served as ambassador to Ukraine until June 2009, leaving Moscow without a senior Kremlin diplomat to Ukraine for seven months. The Kremlin named Zubarov for the Kiev post in August, but Moscow delayed his posting, citing poor relations between Ukraine and Russia.

Russia and Ukraine have long been divided over a host of issues, including natural gas pricing and shipments, trade barriers, Ukraine's possible plans for accession to NATO, and Russian military forces based in Ukraine's Crimea.

Either one of the top two candidates in Ukraine's ongoing presidential contest, former prime minister and Opposition Party of Regions leader Viktor Yanukovich and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, is likely to improve relations with Russia when he or she assumes the presidential post, a Ukrainian diplomat told New Europe on 25 January. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has been blamed for worsening relations with Russia in recent years.

Yushchenko, who garnered slightly over 5% in the presidential elections, will leave office soon after a run-off slated for 7 February. The diplomat said that Zurabov’s arrival to Kiev before the second round of Ukraine’s presidential election signals a rapprochement in relations but that thorns in ties between the two countries are likely to continue. Yanukovich and Tymoshenko have called for less confrontation between Kiev and Moscow. Yanukovich and Tymoshenko received 35.34% and 25.04%, respectively, and will go into the runoff.

"It is a great honor and responsibility to represent Russia in Ukraine," the former high-level Russian government adviser for trade and economic policy said in a statement issued after landing in Kiev. The Russian Federation is confident that Russo-Ukrainian relations have a great deal of potential, he added.

On 19 January, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev directed Zurabov to start his mission as Moscow's ambassador to Kiev. Zurabov was also appointed as the President's special envoy on trade and economic ties with Kiev.

Russian business daily Kommersant reported on 23 January the Yushchenko administration was set to advise the Foreign Ministry against accepting Zurabov's credentials, with the Ukrainian President's name reportedly absent on the diplomatic documents. Ukraine's Presidential administration said the absence of the President's name on Zurabov's documents is a "violation of all diplomatic norms" and an attempt "to humiliate" Yuschehnko, who is still president, Kommersant reported. Yushchenko said he believes Zurabov will most likely present his credentials to a new president.