© Reuters / Valentyn Ogirenko, RIA Novosti / Aleksey NikolskyiAfter a phone call between the two leaders last week, Poroshenko proposed a peace plan for E. Ukraine, which Putin has called not viable and unrealistic.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has welcomed the ceasefire announced by Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko. However, for the plan to become "realistic," Putin said
both sides of the Ukrainian conflict must stop the fighting and sit down for talks.
Putin "
supports" Poroshenko's decision for a "
cease fire in the south-eastern Ukraine, and his pronounced intention to take some concrete steps for achieving peaceful settlement," a statement published on the Kremlin website
said on Saturday.
With that, the Russian President notes the 15-point peace plan suggested by Poroshenko on Friday "
will not be viable and realistic... without practical actions aimed at the start of the negotiations process."
Putin called on both Kiev and anti-government forces to "
halt any battle actions and sit down at the negotiating table."
He also noted that the Friday incident, when
a Russian checkpoint came under fire from the Ukrainian side after the ceasefire was announced was "
unacceptable."
The Russian leader urged Poroshenko to use the opportunity for reaching "
political compromises" with eastern Ukrainians, adding that the peace plan "
should not be an ultimatum by nature."
Comment: Another shameful and pitiful display by Canada's leadership. Could Canada conceivably have a more sniveling, wannabe, sycophantic prime minister? It's doubtful. Fact check: 1) Russia's annexation of Crimea was not illegal. 2) "Those responsible" for the crisis in Ukraine are the Americans. If anything, Canada should be sanctioning Kiev and Washington, but don't expect Harper the Harpy to act with any sense of reason or justice in this age of the crumbling American Empire.