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Saturday 6 June 2015 - 10:32

Putin accuses West of deliberately creating Ukraine crisis

Story Code : 465243
Russian President Vladimir Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin
"I believe that this (Ukraine) crisis was created deliberately and it is the result of our partner’s unprofessional actions," Putin said in a Saturday interview with Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera ahead of his visit to the European country.
 
The remarks by the Russian president came amid allegations by the West that the Kremlin has been meddling in Ukraine’s domestic affairs and backing the independence fighters in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, where Kiev initiated a military operation in April, 2014 against pro-Russia forces.
 
The Ukrainian crisis began in 2014 when pro- European Union (EU) forces, including Western-backed radical nationalists, ousted then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych after he refused to sign an association agreement with the EU.
 
Following the appointment of a new pro-Western leadership in Kiev, it was further suggested that the country join the NATO military alliance and drop its non-aligned status.
 
The US and the EU have further censured Moscow over the reunification of Crimea with Russia in March, 2014.
 
Meanwhile, Moscow has repeatedly emphasized that it is not involved in the Ukrainian unrest, underlining that 96 percent of Crimean residents voted for rejoining Russia in a referendum following its declaration of independence from Ukraine.
 
"I would like to emphasize once more: this was not our choice, we did not seek it, we are simply forced to respond to what is happening," Putin stated during the interview.
 
He also noted that Russia is doing everything possible to influence independence supporters in Ukraine’s southeast (Donbass) in seeking a peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian conflict, urging the EU and the US to make similar efforts with respect to Kiev.
 
The Russian president added, "Not everything depends on us. Our European and US partners should exert influence on the current Kiev administration. We do not have the power, as Europe and the United States do, to convince Kiev to carry out everything that was agreed on in Minsk."
 
Kiev signed a ceasefire agreement with the self-proclaimed republic of Donbass in February, 2015. The deal was reached following talks between the leaders of Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine in the Belarusian capital of Minsk.
 
Describing the situation in eastern Ukraine’s contested Donbass region as a "humanitarian disaster," Putin also called on the EU to provide more substantial funds to Ukraine.
 
"Since we are talking about what can or must be done, and by whom, I believe that the European Union could surely provide greater financial assistance to Ukraine," he added.
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