Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian who often serves as an emissary for Russian President Putin, tells Reuters that Ukraine’s new president could regain control over the separatist east by year’s end, get cheap gas and investments from Russia — if he does a deal with Moscow.

Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian who often serves as an emissary for Russian President Putin, tells Reuters that Ukraine’s new president could regain control over the separatist east by year’s end, get cheap gas and investments from Russia — if he does a deal with Moscow. Medvedchuk, who has known Putin for 19 years, says billions of dollars would flow from Russia in the form of investments and purchases of Ukrainian goods. Asserting Ukraine is losing $20 billion a year in exports to Russia, he said in an interview last week in Kyiv: “We’re not saying that we have to kiss or hug each other again. We’re talking about restoring pragmatic economic relations.”