Putin: No need to think up anything in lieu of Minsk Agreements on Ukraine
SOCHI. May 2 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin sees no point in looking for an alternative to the Normandy format or the Minsk Agreements to settle the crisis in Ukraine.
"I can't agree more with Madam Federal Chancellor that we can't think up anything different, any alternative, and that we shouldn't think up anything other than the Normandy format and the Minsk Agreements since it would be wrong to make any new plans before achieving elementary results on what we saw in the previous years," Putin said at a news conference following talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday.
"As for the OSCE, as I said before in my opening remarks, the OSCE plays an extremely significant role and everything should be done to facilitate the OSCE's operation," Putin said.
"Nobody took" enterprises in Donbas "away from their legitimate owners," Putin said. "But since those businesses based in the territory of the self-proclaimed republics are deprived of an opportunity - I want to underline this - to receive raw materials from Ukrainian territory and ship their products to Ukrainian territory, the people working at those plants and trying to avoid being destitute had no choice but introduce interim management," he said.
"Nobody took anything away from anyone there," Putin concluded.