Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that nothing could compensate
for relations between Russia and Ukraine, especially economic and human ties.
Putin made the remarks during a meeting Friday with Ukrainian Supreme Council
Chairman Vladimir Litvin at Putin's residence outside Moscow.
Putin expressed his hope that after the election process in Ukraine was
completed, the place of campaign rhetoric will be occupied by pragmatic views in
the interests of economic development and improvement of the people's living
standards.
The Russian president said the ties between the two countries have been
developing rapidly over the past one year and have reached a very high level.
Bilateral trade increased by 40 percentover the period, he noted.
Echoing Putin's view on bilateral ties, Litvin also noted an increase of 5
billion US dollars in bilateral trade.
He told Putin that his parliament was willing to expand and strengthen
cooperation with its Russian counterpart.
On Thursday, when meeting with Russian Federation Council Chairman Sergei
Mironov, Litvin said the two parliaments will deepen cooperation since the
political situation in Ukraine has returned to normal.
Litvin arrived here Thursday for a two-day working visit to Russia.
