"The objective of the militias is to pull (government) armed forces and artillery away to deprive them of the possibility to shell residential areas," Putin said during a visit to North-East Federal University in the Siberian city of Yakutsk.
He said the militias' principal task is to save the residents of the cities in Donbass, the informal name of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in eastern Ukraine.
Fighting has spread south-west from the heartland of Donbass, with insurgents advancing along the shoreline of the Sea of Azov.
"In Europe and in many countries they prefer not to see that," the Interfax news agency quoted Putin as saying, who added that Kiev authorities do not want to conduct a substantial dialogue with the east of the country.
On Sunday, Putin told Russia's Channel One Television that "inclusive talks" should be immediately launched on the social structure and state system in southeastern Ukraine.
He suggested that Western countries should think about "their own ideals" of democratic values when judging the situation in Ukraine.
The armed conflict in southeastern Ukraine between government troops and independence-seeking militias, which erupted in March, have claimed at least 2,200 lives, with hundreds of thousands others displaced.
Source: Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
1/9/14
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Militias of southeast Ukraine’s Novorossiya army have killed or wounded 100 pro-Kiev troops and shot down one Su-25 attack aircraft and two Mi-8 helicopters on the approaches to Mariupol, the militia headquarters said on Monday...
ReplyDeleteThe Novorossiya fighters have also seized two tanks, about six multiple launch rocket systems, two armored personnel carriers, up to 14 artillery guns and mortars, up to 24 vehicles and two depots with ammunition, the militia headquarters reported.
The Novorossiya fighters also successfully fought against the Ukrainian troops on the Sea of Azov, their first sea battle, destroying two border guard boats, which tried to shell the militias in the village of Shirokino near the town of Novoazovsk, the militia headquarters said.
ITAR-TASS has no confirmation of these reports from other sources so far.
The headquarters of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) said on Sunday that more than 100 Ukrainian servicemen had surrendered to the Novorossiya army...................http://en.itar-tass.com/world/747529
1/9/14
EU sanctions a dead end, says Sergei Lavrov...
ReplyDeleteMOSCOW, September 01. /ITAR-TASS/. Nations of the European Union need to realize that sanctions against Russia over events in Ukraine are leading nowhere, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said on Monday.
“I would not want to see us being compelled into gradually shutting the European direction of our co-operation with foreign partners as it has already been said that we are going to the Asia-Pacific region not instead of but in addition to the course aimed to deepen economic, trade, humanitarian and technological partnership with the EU,” the minister said at his annual meeting with future diplomats.
Lavrov blamed the EU for undermining major directions of cooperation with Russia for the sake of defining their position, which he dubbed as “rather disputable as it is based on reckless support for the Kiev authorities”.
“I hope the EU is becoming increasingly aware that this policy is a deadlock, and that common sense will prevail,” Lavrov told students and professors of Moscow State Diplomatic University (MGIMO).................http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/747549