Putin: Ending Ukraine crisis requires complete withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from New Russia territory

Russian President Vladimir Putin today renewed his country’s call for the complete withdrawal of Kiev’s troops from the newly returned territories of the Russian Federation in order to end the crisis in Ukraine.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban following their talks in Moscow today, Putin said: “Russia supports the complete and final termination of the conflict in Ukraine, the conditions for which we have set in advance, namely the complete withdrawal of all Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s republics and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.

Putin explained that Russia views the visit of the Hungarian Prime Minister as an attempt to restore dialogue with the West and give it additional impetus.

In turn, Orban described his talks with Putin as “open and sincere”, considering that the Ukrainian crisis has begun to affect the European economy.

Orban said that he discussed with Putin possible ways to resolve the crisis in Ukraine and discussed achieving peace as soon as possible, stressing that the dialogue between Russia and the west on Ukraine is important to resolve the crisis.

It is worth noting that Hungary holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union for the next six months, so the two leaders exchanged views on the current relations between Russia and the European Union.

Since the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis, the Russian leadership has confirmed its readiness to negotiate for a solution, provided that the new reality on the ground and Russia’s security demands are taken into account.

Amal Farhat