SEVERODONETSK, Ukraine, May 6 (UPI) -- Regional tensions are a lot less in eastern Ukraine than previously reported, a leading national politician said Friday.
The issue of separatism in eastern Ukraine will be less in the 2006 parliamentary elections than it was in the run-up to the presidential elections in 2004, parliament Dpeaker Volodymyr Lytvyn told journalists, according to an Interfax-Ukraine news report.
"I would venture to assume, I do not rule out, that this topic will again be brought up," Lytvyn said.
"The issue of federalism, autonomy and separatism is not a problem that worries Ukrainian society today. This is a political technology, a method that is viewed as the last resort which was used during the presidential campaign," the speaker said.
"State structures are ill-advised in highlighting the separatism problem, an issue that should be removed from the agenda," Lytvyn said.
