Russian President Vladimir Putin has reiterated his support for diplomatic efforts to put an end to the conflict in the Donbass, despite calls from his country’s parliament for the Kremlin to consider recognizing two breakaway regions of Eastern Ukraine.
Speaking at a press conference alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Moscow on Tuesday, Putin set out his views on the motion, backed by a majority of MPs earlier the same day, which urged him to consider affirming the sovereignty of the self-declared republics in Donetsk and Lugansk.
According to him, the motion showed that parliamentarians understand public sympathy toward those living in the war-torn Donbass region, comparing the treatment of residents there to “genocide.” However, he went on, “we have to do everything to solve the problems in the Donbass, but first and foremost that has to be through the as-yet unrealized opportunities to implement the Minsk agreements.”