Russia ready to mediate Ukrainian conflict settlement — Putin

MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/. Russia is prepared to act as a mediator in the efforts to settle the crisis in Ukraine, since dialogue is the only instrument that can help it, President Vladimir Putin told the major annual news conference on Thursday. "I think this method /Kiev's pressure on southeastern Ukraine through the use of force -- TASS/ is totally unpromising and detrimental for the destiny of Ukraine's statehood and nation," he said. "I hope we'll manage to attain dialogue as we're prepared to act as mediators," Putin said. "This will be a direct political dialogue, and it'll help us to settle the situation up to the restoration of a common political space." "The way our public views the events in Ukraine suggests that what's happening there is a punitive operation that is conducted by the Kiev authorities and not vice versa," he said. "It wasn't the Southeast Self-Defense forces that sent their units to Kiev, it was Kiev that did it." Putin recalled that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had been using aviation and salvo systems in the much-troubled southeastern regions of the country. "The problem is that after the state coup -- and whatever names whoever calls it and whatever is said about it, this was a state coup -- a part of the country did not agree to the country's development in this manner," he said. "Instead of beginning political dialogue of some kind, law enforcement agencies and police units were brought into play and when this scheme failed they sent Army units into action. And when the latter failed, they are still trying to use force in the form of economic blockade of the southeastern regions." Read more