Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted today that agreements will have to be reached on Ukraineand reiterated that he has said on many occasions that Russia is ready for it, but expressed doubts about the West’s position after the failure of the Minsk peace agreements for Donbas eight years ago.
In a press conference after participating in Bishkek at a summit of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Putin said he felt "upset" by a recent interview with former German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Der Spiegel magazine, who states that the politician believed that signing the Minsk accords would buy Ukraine time to better defend itself against a Russian attack.
"Honestly, it was completely unexpected for me, it’s disappointing"Putin said about it.
"Frankly speaking, I did not expect to hear this from the former chancellor, because I always proceeded from the fact that the leadership of Germany behaves sincerely towards us."he added.
"Yes, of course, (she) was on the side of Ukraine, she supported it, but still it seemed to me that the German leadership always sincerely sought an agreement on the principles that we agreed on, which were achieved, including within the framework of the Minsk process."held.
The president added that Merkel’s statements "they just show that we did everything right from the point of view of launching a special military operation"in reference to the war campaign that Russia began on February 24 in Ukraine.
He stated that the now former president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said that "I was not going to comply" the Minsk agreements.
"I hoped that the other participants in this process would be honest with us. It turns out that we were also deceived. The goal was only to inflate Ukraine with weapons and prepare it for hostilities. Maybe this all should have started sooner"he said, referring to Russia’s military intervention.
Putin pointed out that the problem now is one of trust, that "it’s almost at zero" by this type of statements, because the question of "How to negotiate? About what? Is it possible to negotiate with someone? And where are the guarantees?".
"At the same time, in the end it will be necessary to negotiate"he admitted.
"I have said many times that we are ready for those agreements, we’re open but this makes us wonder who we’re dealing with"he emphasized.
I have said many times that we are ready for these agreements, we are open, but this makes us think. Think who we’re dealing with"said the head of the State.
He also reiterated that the participants in the settlement process will have to accept the "reality".
"One way or another, all participants in this process will have to agree with the realities that are unfolding on the ground."said Putin, who has stated on several occasions that this means that Ukraine agrees to Russia’s annexation not only of Crimea, but now also of the Kherson, Zaporizhia, Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
Russia does not control any of these four southern and eastern Ukrainian provinces in their entirety and their annexation is considered illegal by the West and Kiev, which has already said it will fight until it has liberated all the occupied territory.
Putin did not acknowledge the setbacks suffered by the Army in the last nine months of the military campaign on the ground -with the first withdrawal from the north of Kiev, after Kharkov, and later also from the north of Kherson-, but he assured that "no problems currently".
"The special military operation is ongoing. The situation is stable. There is no doubt there and there are no problems currently"said.