NATO continues to pump Ukraine with weapons: Putin

MOSCOW, Feb 8: Russian President Vladimir Putin said that NATO members continued to pump Ukraine with weapons, this issue was discussed with French President Emmanuel Macron. "NATO member countries continue to pump up Ukraine with modern types of weapons, allocate significant financial resources for the modernization of the Ukrainian army. They send military specialists and instructors," Putin said at a press conference following the Russian-French talks.

"Of course, we talked about everything with the president, as you can see, for quite a long time, there was a discussion for almost six hours," Putin added. Kiev ignores all possibilities for a peaceful settlement of the situation in Donbas, Putin said, adding that he drew Macron's attention to Kiev's refusal to comply with the Minsk agreements. "Of course, for my part, I drew Mr. President's attention to the unwillingness of the current Kiev authorities to comply with the obligations under the Minsk package of measures and agreements in the Normandy format, including those reached at the summits," Putin said.

Kiev headed for the dismantling of the Minsk agreements, he said. "In my opinion, it is obvious to everyone that the current authorities in Kiev have set a course to dismantle the Minsk agreements. There is no progress on such fundamental issues as constitutional reform, amnesty, local elections, legal aspects of the special status of Donbas. The well-known -- at least for experts -- Steinmeier formula is still not enshrined in the Ukrainian legislation," Putin said.

Putin expressed hope that Macron would discuss in Kiev issues raised on Monday during the Russian-French talks. "We hope that Mr President, at least as he said today, intends to discuss tomorrow at a meeting with the Kiev leadership the issues of guarantees and ensuring security and stability in Europe within the Ukrainian settlement," Putin said. A number of Macron's ideas can well be used as the basis for further steps on Ukraine, Putin said. "A number of his ideas, proposals, which it is still too early to talk about, nevertheless, I think, are quite possible in order to make them the basis for our further joint steps," Putin said.

Putin believes that Macron "will have a hard time" in negotiations with the leadership of Ukraine on Tuesday in Kiev. "This is a complex set [of questions], that's why we talked for so many hours, and tomorrow, to Mr President, I understand that there are no easy questions there, he will have a hard time in Kiev either. But we agreed that after consultations we will also get in touch with the leadership of Ukraine and get some kind of feedback on what the Ukrainian leadership today considers acceptable for itself, what is unacceptable, how it is going to move. And depending on this, we will build our own steps further," Putin said.

Putin said that after Macron's visit to Kiev, they would still call each other. "Let's see how the meeting of Mr President in Kiev goes, we agreed that after his trip to the capital of Ukraine, we will still call each other and exchange views on this matter," Putin said. On Tuesday, Macron plans to visit Kiev for a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

(ANI/SPUTNIK)