Russia will in any case establish control over Donbas—whether by military or other means, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with India Today.
“The DPR and LPR did not want to remain part of Ukraine and expressed this in a referendum,” Putin stated.
He added that Moscow did not agree with certain points of the U.S. peace plan, noting that it is a complex process. The Kremlin leader added that the United States proposed dividing the plan’s 28 points into four packages and discussing them separately.
According to Putin, the meeting with Whitcoff and Kushner was very useful, and the proposals they presented were based on previous discussions with Trump. The Kremlin leader emphasized that Europeans should be involved in efforts to resolve the Ukrainian issue rather than hinder it.
He also added that Russia does not intend to return to the G8. According to Putin, Moscow had stopped participating in the group’s meetings even before 2014, when the G8 became the G7.
