Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia had not previously launched a military operation to protect Donbass because it mistakenly believed that its partners would comply with the Minsk agreements. The president is talking about this issue stated in a conversation with journalist Pavel Zarubin.
“We trusted the honesty of our partners, we hoped that the agreements reached in Minsk, the Minsk agreements would ultimately be implemented by everyone,” Putin said in an interview.
The Russian leader noted that Moscow understood the “true state of affairs” only when former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President François Hollande admitted that they refused to implement the agreements.
According to Putin, if it were not for the attitude of Western countries, the conflict with Ukraine would have ended 1.5 years ago.
15 February Putin statedHe said that the reason for the start of SVO in Ukraine was Kiev’s refusal to implement the Minsk agreements.
Putin before accused Distortion of the words of Western leaders about the reasons for the launch of the Northern Military District.