Russia’s President said he believes peace in Ukraine is possible but that neither side is fully holding up a truce struck in September.
Putin said he was convinced that it was possible to end the deadlock in East Ukraine, where pro-Russian rebels have been battling Kiev’s troops in a conflict that has claimed at least 4,000 lives since March.
But the Russian leader also noted that neither the rebels nor Ukrainian troops have fully withdrawn from key locations in the region in order to create a buffer zone, a key part of a truce deal agreed to in September.
“It is true that there are certain settlements that the armed rebel formations should abandon, and they are not being abandoned,” he said. But he blamed the Ukrainians for not holding up their end of the agreement and setting a bad example for the rebels to follow.
Since Ukraine’s pro-Russian president was ousted from power last February, Moscow has often referred to the new, Western-leaning Government as a “junta” brought to power by an unconstitutional coup.