(KIEV)- Analysts point to an economic thaw in relations between Ukraine and Russia, following a policy of economic tensions between the two giants pursued by the previous Ukrainian governments of Yulia Timoshenko and Yuri Yekhanurov. President Victor Yanukovich is credited with a new sense of steady stability which now characterizes the economy since he assumed power in 2006.

Yanukovich’s cabinet is credited with the successful negotiations with Russia concerning gas imports. The current government put an end to deliberate tension between Russian and Ukraine that were a trademark of the previous administrations and has managed to arrive at reasonable prices for Russian natural gas. According to a new report from the American Independent Political Monitoring Center, this is a “definite achievement for this cabinet.” True, the parliamentary opposition – the parties formerly in power – claims that the economic breakthrough came at the price of “political concessions” to Moscow, yet economic analysts dispute such claims.

Professor Alexei Plotnikov, a prominent Ukrainian economist and politician and vice-chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on Economic Policy, explained the reasoning behind Yanukovich’s policy by saying that a “pro-West course does not automatically mean rejection of the Russian market,” adding, “for Ukraine, the traditional Russian market is irreplaceable if only because it can absorb a great deal of national products that cannot today clear European Union customs barriers, at least for the transition period while Ukraine’s economy is being adjusted to meet world standards.”

This point is hard to ignore. Indeed, not one state in today’s globalized economy opts to limit its economic development, and it would run very much against the tide to reject trade on the basis of ideological considerations, if there is a need for it and a chance to profit. Professor Plotnikov observes that Yanukovich’s government strategically pursues joining the WTO and is committed to staying that course, regardless of whose toes might feel stepped on.