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Ukraine independent, free, sovereign state â€“ Putin

17 November 2014 11:29 (UTC +04:00)

Answering the questions on the future of Ukraine, the Russian president said the country has a complex ethnic composition and a history of formation:

“Is there a future and what will it be like? I think there certainly is. It is a large country, a large nation with the population of 43–44 million people. It is a large European country. I believe the people who live on this territory, regardless of the language they speak, must feel that this territory is their homeland. That is why I do not understand the unwillingness of some political forces in Ukraine to even hear about the possibility of federalization. When someone tells us that we have some special opportunities to solve this or that crisis it always troubles and alarms me. I always begin to suspect that there is an intention to pass on the responsibility to us and to make us pay for something. We do not want that. Ukraine is an independent, free and sovereign state”.

As for the Minsk agreement, the Russian president noted that his country is active about this agreement.

“The Minsk agreements arose only because Russia became actively involved in this effort; we worked with the Donbass militias, that is the fighters from southeast Ukraine, and we convinced them that they should settle for certain agreements. If we had not done that, it would simply not have happened. There are some problems with the implementation of these agreements, it is true. But what is important is to immediately stop the bloodshed and shelling and to create conditions for starting a political dialogue. That is what is important. If it this is not done, there will be no political dialogue. Where did they get the armored vehicles and the artillery systems? Nowadays people who wage a fight and consider it righteous will always get weapons. The Ukrainian central authorities want to annihilate everyone who opposes them. Is that what you want? We certainly don't. And we won't let it happen. I am going to say something that some people in this country may not like. Let's try to achieve a single political space in those territories. We are ready to move in this direction, but only together”, said the president.