MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st December, 2018) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has managed to shore up his falling electoral rating with the help of the provocation in the Kerch Strait, but did it at the expense of his country's interests, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
On Thursday, Putin held his annual press conference answering questions by Russian and foreign journalists. The issues related to Ukraine have been in the media focus in light of the November 25 incident in the Kerch Strait, when two Ukrainian naval ships and their crews were detained by Russian border guards for illegally crossing the Russian maritime border and failing to respond to multiple demands to stop.
Having organized a provocation in the Kerch Strait, Poroshenko has succeeded in terms of boosting his ratings ahead of the March presidential election, but sacrificed the country's national interests, according to Putin.
"He moved from the fifth position to the second or third, where, in my opinion, fluctuations amount to about 12 percent ... Probably, he fulfilled his task. At the expense of the country's interests, I think. This is a bad way to raise the rating," Putin said.
The president clarified that the provocation in the Kerch Strait was aimed at aggravating the situation in the country ahead of the election, and seemed to be harmful for Ukraine.
"It seems to me that provocations are always bad. This provocation was aimed at aggravation of the situation. Why do our Ukrainian partners need such a development of events? It is clear that there will be elections there and they need to be aggravated in order to raise the rating of one of the presidential candidates � I mean the acting president ... Well, this is bad. Finally, it is harmful for the interests of his people and his state," Putin stressed.
According to Putin, it is possible to move forward without any provocations.
The president also noted that the investigation into the incident was underway, and court would decide on the fate of the 24 detained sailors. Putin added that Viktor Medvedchuk, Kiev's representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group for the Donbas settlement, had recently paid a visit to Moscow at Poroshenko's request to raise the issue of sailors' release.
"But I have already said that these issues may be settled after the criminal investigation has been completed ... The investigation is underway. After it is completed, it will be clear what to do with this," Putin reiterated.
According to the president, the Ukrainian leadership was disappointed by the fact that none of the Ukrainian sailors, who crossed the Russian border, had died during the incident.
"Those who sent them hoped that some of them would die. I see a great disappointment in the ruling circles [of Ukraine] that was caused by the fact that no one had died. They [Kiev] expected that some of them would die, but, thank God, this did not happen," Putin said.
During the conference, Putin also reiterated Russia's pledge to keep providing relief aid to the eastern Ukrainian region of Dobas, and stressed that there was no military solution to the conflict in this region.
"We provide humanitarian and other assistance to people living in these territories but only to prevent them being torn apart, and we will keep doing it because attempts to solve political issues by force ... are doomed to fail," Putin said.
He recalled that Kiev had imposed a full blockade on Donbas and shot at the people whom it calls its citizens.
"As for the suffering of people who live in Donbas, you are a Ukrainian citizen and you consider these people citizens of your country. Tell me, who established the blockade on this territory � between Donbas and the rest of Ukraine, did Russia do it? This was done by the Ukrainian authorities, who introduced a full economic blockade on the territory that they consider to be their own. They shoot at these citizens, who are considered to be their citizens. Almost every day, people die there, civilians," Putin told a Ukrainian journalist.
The president stressed that Russia wanted "peace and prosperity for whole Ukraine, including Donbas."
Putin went on to note that the prosperity of the neighboring country was in Russia's interests also because Ukraine remained one of our largest trade and economic partners.
"Trade between Ukraine and Russia, despite all attempts of the current Kiev authorities [to prevent it], is growing. It has also grown this year," Putin said.
Commenting on the Russian government's plans to introduce amendments to naturalization law to simplify the procedure for Ukrainians, Putin stated it showed that Moscow was against any policy that aims to split apart Russian and Ukrainian peoples. He also added that the liberalization of rules was being planned not only for Ukrainian citizens.
"As for naturalization, this is related not only to the events in the southeast of Ukraine, and we are doing [something] not only for people who live there ... The government is now preparing amendments to the relevant law about citizenship and naturalization. Why is this being done? This is being done to show that we ... will not support the policies that aim to split up, pull apart the people of Russia and Ukraine," Putin said.
The Kiev authorities were, meanwhile, driving the two peoples apart, he added.
"They are carrying out, and are actually saying it out loud, a historic task: they are pulling apart Russian and Ukrainian peoples, and so everything is forgiven because of that ... This is being paid for. They will now get yet another IMF [International Monetary Fund] tranche," Putin said.
The president also specified that the amendments would be adopted in early 2019.
