MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied rumors that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had suggested that Russia "take Donbas" at the February negotiations in Minsk.
Speaking at a Q&A session on April 16, Putin was asked whether media reports were true in alleging that, during the Minsk negotiations, Poroshenko had told him: “Take Donbas. I don’t need it.
“No. There was nothing of the sort,” Putin said.
In fact, the Minsk negotiations, among other things, addressed steps that need to be taken for Donbas’s economy and social sector to recover, he said.
