Dialogue With Ukrainian Parliament May Be Restored After Rada Elections

Cooperation between Russia's State Duma, the lower house of parliament, and the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, will definitely be restored at some point, but this is hardly possible with the Rada's current composition, speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament Sergei Naryshkin told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Relations between Moscow and Kiev rapidly deteriorated following the reunification of Crimea with Russia in 2014 and the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis later that year.

"Cooperation with the Verkhovna Rada will undoubtedly be restored, but I don't think this can happen with its current composition," Naryshkin said, noting that not all political forces are represented in the current Ukrainian parliament.

"But we are in contact with a number of Verkhovna Rada members and there will be more of this. I am certain that sooner or later, but with a different Rada composition, we will cooperate, work together, engage in interparliamentary dialogue worthy of two major European countries," he added.