Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev stands at the presidential residence in Sochi during the recording of an address for his personal blog, August 11, 2009.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    MOSCOW, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Russia will delay sending a new ambassador to Ukraine due to Kiev's anti-Russia course, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday.

    "I would like to inform you that taking into account the anti-Russian course of the Ukrainian leadership, I have made the decision to postpone sending our new ambassador to Ukraine," Medvedev said in a letter to his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko.

    The Russian president described the current state of Russia-Ukraine relations as "crisis-ridden without an exaggeration."

    "One gets the impression that Kiev has been consistently trying to break the long-established economic ties with Russia, first of all energy ties," he said in the letter posted on the Kremlin website.

    "Russia hopes that Ukraine's new political leadership will be ready to forge relations between our two countries that will indeed answer the true hopes of our peoples in the interests of strengthening European security," he said.

    Medvedev also said Ukraine's expulsion of two Russian diplomats "without any reason" was "an unprecedented provocation in the whole of the post-Soviet space."

    Last month, Kiev asked the Russian consul general in Odessa and a senior counselor of the Russian embassy to end their duty in Ukraine. In response, Moscow asked Ukraine to recall two senior diplomats.

    Since pro-Western Yushchenko came to power in 2005, Russia and Ukraine have been at odds over a series of issues, ranging from Russian gas supply to Ukraine to Kiev's bid for NATO membership. The former Soviet republic is to hold presidential elections in January.