MOSCOW, Dec. 18 – President Vladimir Putin has branded Ukraine's attempt to crush a Moscow-backed separatist uprising in the east of the country a "punitive operation" and said Russia was fighting for its right to exist, AFP reported.
"It is indeed a punitive operation. But it is being conducted by the current Kiev authorities," Putin told his annual end-of-the-year news conference, side-stepping a question from a Ukrainian journalist.
|