BBC Online :
Russia says it is “open to dialogue” with the new president of Ukraine, as initial results suggested Petro Poroshenko would win its election.
However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said military action must end against separatists in the east.
Poroshenko said he would meet Russian leaders soon but vowed to take a tough line on any armed separatists.
Unrest continues in the east, with pro-Russia militiamen halting flights at Donetsk airport.
Lavrov told a press conference in Moscow: “We are ready for dialogue with Kiev’s representatives, with Petro Poroshenko.”
Lavrov said EU and US mediation were not needed, but warned Kiev that continuing military operations against the separatists would be a “colossal mistake”.
Petro Poroshenko: “Without Russia it would be much less effective or almost impossible to speak about the security in the whole region”
He said: “As our president [Vladimir Putin] has said, we shall treat the results of the expression of will of the Ukrainian people with respect.”
But Lavrov said Kiev must also treat its people with respect and that dialogue with the east was necessary to resolve the crisis.
Poroshenko said he hoped to meet Russian leaders early next month, after a trip to Poland where he will meet the US president and EU leaders.
However, he warned he would take a tough line on armed militiamen.
He said: “Their goal is to turn Donbass [east Ukraine] into Somalia. I will not let anyone do this to our state and I hope that Russia will support my approach.”
Poroshenko also indicated he would keep current Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, saying: “There are no plans to change the government leadership.”
Poroshenko, 48, currently has 53.86% of the vote, with just over half of the ballots counted, and would not need a run-off. Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is a distant second on 13.1%.
Initial results are expected on Monday.
The election came three months after pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych fled Kiev amid bloody street protests and calls for closer ties with the EU.
Since then, Russia has annexed the Crimean peninsula in southern Ukraine and armed separatists in the eastern provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk have declared independence.
Yanukovych has also said he will accept the election result, “no matter which regions and what percentage of the population voted”, Russian media reported.
Ukraine’s interim government is engaged in an offensive in the east to quash the uprising that has left scores dead.
Pro-Russian separatists severely disrupted voting there. No polling stations were open in Donetsk city, and across the region only seven out of 12 district electoral commissions were operating.
However, the central elections commission said about 60% of Ukraine’s 35.5 million eligible voters had turned out.
Unrest continued on Monday.
Flights were temporarily suspended at Sergei Prokofiev airport in Donetsk after several dozen separatists from the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic demanded Ukrainian troops guarding the inner perimeter be removed.
