MOSCOW, May 30 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed Friday in a phone conversation with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan the situation in Ukraine after the presidential election of May25, Kremlin’s Press Service said.
“The leaders have exchanged, among other things, opinions over the situation in Ukraine in the light of the presidential election that was held. Putin expressed a serious concern over the ongoing punitive operation by Kiev’s authorities in the southeastern [regions] of the country,” Kremlin’s Press Service said.
According to the statement, Putin hoped that the new authorities in Ukraine would stop military actions against civilians and move toward a direct dialogue with the representatives of the regions.
Earlier on Friday Ukraine’s interim Defense Minister Mykhailo Koval said that the special operation that already led to numerous casualties among both the Ukrainian army and self-defense forces would continue until the situation in the region came back to normal.
Ukraine’s President-elect Petro Poroshenko announced right after the May 25 vote that he backed the continuation of the special operation though stressed that it should become shorter and more effective.
Ahead of the May 25 presidential election the Ukrainian parliament adopted a memorandum on peace and accord, which among other things renounced the use of force by all the sides of the conflict. Despite the motion right after the vote an active phase of the special operation, which was suspended for the polling day, resumed.
