The Kremlin has limited control over pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, according to Russian president Vladimir Putin’s aide Dmitry Peskov. Anti-Kiev armed groups, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic, currently control large swathes of land in the area.
Speaking to Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet Peskov denied reports made by Ukraine and Kiev’s western partners that the Russian-speaking forces in Ukraine’s east, which consist of a number of Russian army servicemen, were in fact commanded by Moscow.
“Contrary to what is said by NATO and by European countries, the militants in Donbas are not our puppets,” Peskov said. …read more
Source: Newsweek