Trump's victory may improve U.S.-Russia relations, but strategic differences will remain – Ukraine's envoy to CoE

Donald Trump's victory of the U.S. presidential election may result in a meltdown in relations between Washington and Moscow, but not in strategic matters, which include the conflict in Donbas, Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe Dmytro Kuleba has said.

"To make a tragedy out of Donald Trump's victory is to be short-sighted and to discount the strength of the American system of checks and balances... A certain tactical meltdown between the U.S. and Russia is possible, but the core strategic differences between them will remain fundamental. The differences concerning Russia's aggression against Ukraine are strategic," he said in a comment to Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday.

Ukrainian diplomat said the choice of the American people should be respected, and irrespective of it, reforms should continue in Ukraine, so that the state should become stronger and less dependent on foreign support.

"The experience of elections in other countries in recent years has to teach us that it is necessary to make a distinction between the politicians' stand during election or before the appointment and after the victory or appointment to a position of responsibility," Kuleba said.