SERGIEV POSAD (Moscow Region), July 18 (RIA Novosti) — Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed hope on Friday that his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko, will manage to come up with a long-lasting peaceful solution for the current standoff in eastern Ukraine that would satisfy all conflicting sides.
«We are in contact with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, and I hope that he will offer to all Ukrainians, all people regardless of where they reside, a variant of the development of the situation, a way to safeguard legitimate rights and interests, which would lead to final, stable, long-lasting peace on that land," Putin said at a meeting with the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sergiev Pasad, a town near Moscow.
Earlier on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized Washington for giving Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko a green light for the military operation against independence supporters in the country’s east, and called on the United States to review the approval.
On Thursday, Putin said that the United States seemed to be pushing Ukraine to a civil war, leading a policy that was doomed to fail.
Since mid-April, Ukrainian authorities have been conducting a special military operation in eastern Ukraine to suppress the independence movement in the country. Hundreds of civilians have died in the conflict over the past months.
Moscow has repeatedly called on Kiev stop the violence immediately and resolve the conflict through a peaceful dialogue.
