MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday he still keeps in touch with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko, despite Kiev's continuous accusations that have raised eyebrows in the Kremlin.
"We do keep in touch. But sometimes I am taken aback by public statements of the Ukrainian government, for instance that officers from my administration could have taken part in the tragic events that unfolded in Maidan [Kiev's central square] a year ago, which is pure nonsense," Putin said.
Putin added the government in Kiev sometimes blamed Ukrainian security services for providing it with inaccurate information.
The Russian president was commenting on a statement made by President Poroshenko who cited Ukraine's Security Service SBU as saying last week that Putin's aide Vladislav Surkov could have been behind the alleged sniper attacks on demonstrators last February as they rallied in Kiev's landmark Maidan square.
About a hundred of protesters died in central Kiev during months of unrest that included people throwing Molotov cocktails and stones at police cordons against backdrop of blazing car tires and towering barricades that defended the protest camp.
A year after the fatalities, Kiev has not come up with any results of its inquiry into the alleged sniper shootings, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who criticized the slow pace of investigation last October. He also condemned Kiev's lack of vigour when probing similar deadly incidents in Odesa and Mariupol.
"It is extremely bad that they are both trying to justify their defeat and blame Russia for it. But the worst thing is that they are trying to take a standoff between Ukraine and Russia to a higher level," Putin said in a televised show.
This comment comes amid increased accusations from Kiev, and also from the West, that Russia has been aiding militias in Ukraine' southeast to make territorial gains, specifically around a strategic rail hub of Debaltseve. The town was a hotly contested area for days before armed forces there encircled and trapped Ukrainian troops last week.
Last Wednesday, President Poroshenko announced a successful withdrawal of over 2,000 Kiev-led troops from Debaltseve. The following day, militias claimed gaining control of the town.
