Bishkek: Nine months after Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that a deal would be needed to end fighting in Ukraine.
President Putin is attending a summit of regional leaders in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek. At the event, Putin stated that despite the current next-to-nothing trust between Kyiv and Moscow a mutually agreeable deal to be needed to end the war.
The Russian leader reiterated that he had mentioned many times that the Kremlin is open to such deals.
Remarks by Angela Merkel over Minsk deals
He made these remarks in response to Germany’s former chancellor Angela Merkel’s comments regarding the Minsk deals. These pacts were achieved through negotiations with Berlin and Paris to end fighting between Ukraine and Russia in 2014.
Speaking to Die Zeit newspaper, Merkel had stated that the Minsk deals had been made to give Ukraine time and that Kyiv had utilized the past eight years to become stronger.
Putin had thought Germany acted in good faith
Putin expressed his disappointment over Merkel’s comments and added that he had always thought the German government had been acting in good faith.
He stressed that following such remarks, how can an agreement be made when it is not known with whom to agree? He added that can anyone give honest guarantees. – AFP/APP
