Sochi -- President Vladimir Putin on Friday confirmed that Russia recognizes the sovereignty of Ukraine.
“It has to be admitted that Ukraine is quite a compound state formation. Such is the historical reality, and we use it as our basis,” Putin told a conference of the Valdai international discussion club.
“But that doesn’t mean at all that we don’t respect the sovereignty of the Ukrainian state overall if, as a result of a coup supported by our Western partners, the people of Crimea became concerned about their future, started worrying for themselves and their children and exercised their right to self-determination as guaranteed by international law,” he said.
“We respect it [the Ukrainian state] and are determined to do so in the future. And we very much expect Russian-Ukrainian relations to normalize and further develop,” the president said.
