Peskov: Crimea and Current Situation in Ukraine To Be Primary Topic During Putin’s Televised Q&A Session

The current situation in Ukraine and the reunification of Crimea and Sevastopol with Russia are expected to be the primary topics during the “hot line” with the Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 17, according to his press secretary Dmitry Peskov. “I have no doubt that the President will also give his assessment of any sanctions developed in European capitals, as well as in the US,” he also added, according to RIA Novosti.

Peskov said that the President has already received a lot of questions for his “hot line” regarding sanctions. “These questions contain very negative towards sanctions. Many espouse a sort of patriotic bravado, wondering if we actually need our Western partners, if we’d be better off without them,” he noted.

Russian position on Ukraine reasonable, consistent but runs into Western censorship – Kremlin spokesman

Russia’s position on Ukraine is very consistent and well-founded, but it comes across a rude stone wall of Western censorship, Russian presidential press-secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday. People in the West are virtually deprived of freedom to choose information, he told the Rossiya-24 television.

Russian officials, including the president, the foreign minister, members of the Russian parliament, have been trying to use every opportunity to explain Russia’s position and dispel rumors, Peskov said.

“But those explanations fail to get through, not because they are poorly founded – on the contrary, Russia’s position is very consistent and well-founded – they fail to get through because they come across a rude stone wall of censorship”.

“Frankly, we haven’t seen any such thing before. We couldn’t even imagine that such a thing could happen,” Peskov said.

Russia readies for Ukrainian talks in Geneva without any preconditions – Russian foreign ministry

Meanwhile, a Russian delegation is ready to take part in the upcoming multilateral talks on the Ukrainian crisis without any preconditions, Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said Wednesday. Top diplomats from Russia, Ukraine, the United States and the EU diplomacy chief Catherine Ashton are expected to meet on April 17 in Geneva to discuss how to handle the current political crisis in Ukraine.

“We are getting ready for this meeting without any preconditions,” Karasin said. Karasin added, though, that Russia will participate in the Geneva talks “only if nothing drastic happens overnight in southeastern Ukraine,” as the Kiev authorities have launched a crackdown on pro-federalism protesters in the Donetsk region.

Russia has condemned the decision by Kiev to use force against the federalization supporters, saying it was a “frightening” turn of events.

Voice Of Russia

R.S