Putin calls for talks on 'statehood' of eastern Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin called Sunday for immediate
talks on the future of war-torn east Ukraine , saying for the first time
that "statehood" should be discussed, reports AFP.
"We need to immediately begin substantive talks ... on
questions of the political organisation of society and statehood in
southeastern Ukraine
with the goal of protecting the lawful interests of the people who live
there," Putin was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies on a TV show
broadcast in the far east of the country.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said it was an
"absolutely incorrect interpretation" to understand Putin as calling
for the region's independence to be put on the agenda, and that he had only
called for "inclusive talks" between Kiev and the separatists.
"Only Ukraine
can reach an agreement with Novorossiya and take into account the interests of
Novorossiya's population," Peskov was quoted as saying, using the loaded
Tsarist-era term "New Russia" that Putin recently reintroduced to
talk about several regions in southeastern Ukraine .
Talks are due to be held on Monday in the Belarussian
capital Minsk between representatives of Moscow , Kiev
and the OSCE but it was unclear if separatists would attend.
Putin's comments are likely to be viewed as something of a
Freudian slip in Kiev and the West, who are
concerned that Moscow has covertly sent in
troops and is bent on carving out a pro-Russian state in eastern Ukraine .
In the TV programme, taped on Friday, Putin did not directly
address the possibility of additional Western sanctions on Russia . But he blamed the crisis in
Ukraine
on the West, accusing it of supporting a "coup" against pro-Kremlin
president Viktor Yanukovych in February.
- 'Russia
cannot stand aside' -
"They should have known that Russia cannot stand aside
when people are being shot almost at point-blank range," said Putin,
adding that he did not have in mind "the Russian state but the Russian
people."
Putin has denied that Moscow
has sent regular troops to fight in Ukraine , but pro-Moscow rebels have
said that many Russian soldiers have volunteered while "on vacation".
The West accused Moscow
this week of having its troops spearhead a lightning counter-offensive that has
put Ukrainian government forces on the back foot in the nearly five-month
conflict.
NATO said on Thursday that Moscow
had well over 1,000 troops on the ground in Ukraine and 20,000 massed by the
border.
Analysts, including Russian experts, see Putin out to create
a statelet in eastern Ukraine ,
much as Moscow has helped carve out de facto
separatist states in Moldova
and Georgia .
Putin on Friday called the fighters in eastern Ukraine
defenders of "Novorossiya", or New Russia. he first used the
Tsarist-era term in April, after annexing Crimea from Ukraine , sparking outrage in Kiev and the West.
- 'Absolutely natural reaction' -
Despite saying that Russia supports a negotiated
political solution to the crisis, Putin has used fiery, uncompromising rhetoric
in recent days.
In a talk with youth activists on Friday he compared the
shelling of the rebel-held cities of Lugansk and Donetsk
to the Nazi siege of Leningrad .
Aid groups have condemned indiscriminate shelling by both
sides in the conflict which has claimed almost 2,600 lives.
Putin put the blame for fighting in eastern Ukraine squarely on Kiev .
"What is now happening, it seems to me, to be an
absolutely natural reaction by people who live there and who are defending
themselves -- they weren't the first to take up arms."
While people in eastern Ukraine had been concerned about
attempts to downgrade the status of the Russian language, there had been no
serious incidents of violence in the region until pro-Russian rebels took
control of several cities in April.
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