German, French Leaders Would Rather Trust Moscow Than Not – Putin

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — There is certain distrust in relations between Russia, France and Germany at the moment, but Russia's foreign partners rather trust Moscow than not, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday.

"Absolute trust can be found not in every family, on the international level it's even more complicated, but it seems to me that we understand each other, and, on the whole, trust each other – even though a certain element of distrust is still in place," the president said in a televised show.

"Still I have an impression that our partners [leaders of Germany and France] rather trust us than not, or in any case they believe in our sincerity," Putin added.

Speaking about the way European leaders view the current conflict in Ukraine, and specifically answering a journalist's question on whether he managed to draw attention of his European colleagues to the fact that nazi ideology is now flourishing in Kiev, Putin said that "they are trying not to notice it."

The president stressed, however, that he believes European leaders are truly committed to the peaceful resolution of conflict.

"What I would like to highlight, is the sincere, as it seems to me, will to find compromise solutions that would lead to the final settlement [of the Ukrainian crisis]," the president said.

In this regard Putin noted that in the text of the new Minsk agreements under the point on the need to decentralize power in Ukraine, there is a note, specifying how exactly this should be done.

"Our German and French partners are the authors of this note and this signifies of their sincere will to find the compromises I just mentioned," Putin said.

On February 12, the leaders of Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine negotiated a number of steps to facilitate the reconciliation process in southeastern Ukraine. The set of measures agreed in Minsk include a ceasefire from February 15, the withdrawal of heavy artillery from the line of contact, an all-for-all prisoner exchange and a constitutional reform in Ukraine with a focus on decentralization of power.

The note to this point lists the measures to be included in the Ukrainian law "On temporary Order of Local Self-Governance in Particular Districts of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts." The most important of these steps are freedom from punishment in connection with events that took part during the conflict and the right for language self-determination.