President Vladimir Putin told German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a telephone conversation on Sunday that he was concerned over tensions in Ukraine’s Russian-speaking southeastern regions.
“The Russian president once again expressed concern over tensions in Ukraine’s south and southeast being inflamed by radical groups with the connivance of Kiev’s authorities,” the Kremlin said in a statement following the talks.
Putin also “stressed that Russia will respect the choice of Crimea’s residents” in Sunday’s historic referendum on breaking away from Ukraine to join Russia, the statement said.
The Russian leader reiterated Moscow’s position that the referendum was in line with international law, it said.
Three people died in recent clashes in the Russian-speaking eastern Ukrainian cities of Donetsk and Kharkiv.
Russia has said it was considering “many requests” to protect Ukrainians, raising fears that Russia could move its troops beyond Crimea.
Putin and Merkel also discussed the possibility of sending a “large-scale mission” from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to monitor the situation in Ukraine, the Kremlin said.
Separately, Putin’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov called on US Secretary of State John Kerry to press the Kiev authorities to take steps to protect Ukraine’s Russian speakers.
“John Kerry assured (Lavrov) that Washington is already conducting all the necessary work and expects that it will soon bring positive results,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
The two men also agreed to continue to look for ways to defuse the crisis in Ukraine through “the launch as soon as possible of a constitutional reform with the support of the international community.”