Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said Wednesday he would meet with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev early next month, after the Kremlin had snubbed his earlier attempts for talks in the worst post-Soviet crisis in bilateral ties.
Yushchenko said he would meet Medvedev at a regional summit in neighboring Moldova scheduled for Oct. 9.
"The meeting will take place," he told reporters in Kiev.
"And I will be participating in the Council of the CIS States," he said, referring to the Commonwealth of the Independent States, a loose grouping of ex-Soviet nations.
A Kremlin spokesman said he couldn't immediately confirm the meeting.
In the past months, Yushchenko has snubbed several summits in Russia after the Kremlin refused to grant him a bilateral meeting with Medvedev.
In August, Medvedev sent an angry letter to Yushchenko, saying he wouldn't be sending a new ambassador to Kiev due to his "anti-Russian" policies. He also said Russia cannot have normal relations with Ukraine as long as Yushchenko remained in power.
Yushchenko intends to run in January presidential elections but is given little chance as his poll ratings are at a single-digit all-time low.