Before his official visit to India, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave an interview to the India Today television channel. This was reported by Zamin.uz.
The interview was published on December 4. In the interview, journalist Gita Mohan asked the president a sensitive and pressing question: why were the Russian-speaking residents of Donbass shocked that their homes were destroyed by the Russian army?
According to the journalist, she had been to Donetsk and Luhansk and spoke with the local population. Most locals speak Russian and said they felt pressure from the Kyiv government regarding language issues.
However, after the start of Russian military operations, they reportedly did not understand that their homes were being destroyed. Putin initially seemed not to understand the question, then explained his point of view.
According to him, the people whose homes were destroyed may have lived in areas controlled by Kyiv. The president emphasized that Russia supported the parts of Donetsk and Luhansk not under Kyiv’s control, and that the destruction in those areas was carried out by the Kyiv government.
Putin recalled that the people of Donbass expressed their choice through a referendum, where those who wanted to join Russia voted, and those who did not could move to other parts of Ukraine. He also stressed that there is a plan to “definitely liberate” Donbass and stated that Ukrainian forces must leave these territories or face continued armed actions by Russia.
During the conversation, the “Trump peace plan” to stop the war was also discussed. This plan envisages the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Luhansk and Donetsk and, in effect, the transfer of these territories to Russia.
At the end of the interview, the journalist’s questions and Putin’s answers once again demonstrated that both sides interpret reality completely differently. The Donbass issue is clearly set to continue for a long time in the geopolitical arena.
