ST. PETERSBURG, May 22 (RIA Novosti), Daria Chernyshova – The presidential election in Ukraine scheduled for Sunday might kick-start international dialogue on how to solve the crisis in the country, Russo-British Chamber of Commerce Board Chairman Roger Munnings said Thursday.
“My hope is that the election would enable both sides, I mean both parties to the conflict, to sit down and have a very positive dialogue about how to go forward in the future,” Munnings told RIA Novosti during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
“My hope is that we will see a turning point after Sunday election,” he added.
Munnings noted the positive effects of both Western and Russian rhetoric scaling back, one of the prerequisites for broad dialogue.
“I think it is positive that the rhetoric is being scaled back, it got to a stage which was in itself inflationary,” he told RIA Novosti.
“The next stage for the progress is what happens in the Ukrainian election on Sunday,” Munnings said, adding that afterwards Russia and the West can help Ukraine settle its internal differences.
Ukraine went through a regime change resembling a military coup on February 22. The country’s parliament ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, changed the constitution and scheduled early presidential elections for May 25.
Since March, anti-government protests have been spreading across southeastern regions of the country.
Citizens of mainly Russian-speaking southeast of Ukraine have refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the country’s interim government. The eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk held referendums on self-determination with over 90 percent of voters supporting greater autonomy. The self-proclaimed republics announced that they would not participate in Ukraine’s upcoming presidential election on May 25
Ukraine’s new interim authorities, backed by radical ultranationalist groups, launched a special operation to crack down on the protesters in mid-April, which has already led to dozens of deaths and injuries.
