MOSCOW, November 13. /TASS/: Russia is not a party to the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with the journalist of the Rossiya-1 TV channel Pavel Zarubin.
"The Minsk agreements do not say that Russia is a party to the conflict, we have never agreed with this and will not agree, we are not," the Russian leader stressed.
As the President noted, the Western partners "are trying to push Russia to implementation of the Minsk agreements."
"But when we ask our partners, in particular in the Normandy format, what exactly Russia does not observe under the Minsk agreements and what <...> Russia should do under the Minsk agreements - there is no answer. They say directly: "We cannot word it". I am not joking, the dialogue is exactly like this," Putin said.
According to him, no one can formulate what exactly the Lugansk and Donetsk people's republics allegedly do not fulfill under the Minsk agreements either.
Putin recalled that it was the Ukrainian authorities who made the decision to use the armed forces to resolve the conflict in Donbass. First, it was done by acting President of Ukraine Aleksander Turchinov, then President Pyotr Poroshenko made the second attempt to solve the conflict by force, "despite attempts to convince him not to do this."
"How it ended, what tragedies it led to, we know very well. It was them who started it," Putin stressed.
Mechanism to settle crisis
Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that there are still no other settlement mechanisms in Donbass, except for the meeting of the Normandy Four.
"I believe that we have no other mechanisms, and <...> no matter how difficult it is today, no matter how difficult it is to solve this problem, but this mechanism must be used," he said, answering the question about the settlement in Donbass and whether it makes sense to convene a summit in the Normandy format.
Putin stressed that the mechanism of the meeting in the Normandy format should be used "at least for approaching the solution of the problems" in the east of Ukraine.
The Russian leader noted that he had not heard "persistent proposals in this regard" from Russia’s partners. "Although we are discussing it," he noted.
"Invasion of Ukraine"
Publications that Russia is allegedly preparing a "military invasion of Ukraine" are alarmist, Putin said. "I haven’t seen these alarmist statements yet, though. But I proceed from the fact that it is what you said," the head of state said responding to the host's request to comment on such publications by Western media.
Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the reports in the Western media about "the plans of the Russian Federation to invade the territory of Ukraine" as groundless escalation of tension.
He drew attention to the fact that this is "not the first publication, not the first statement by the United States that it is concerned" about the movement of the Russian Armed Forces on its territory. Russia repeatedly said that the movement of its armed forces on its own territory should not cause concern to anyone, since it "poses no threat to anyone," the Kremlin spokesman noted.
