Putin made his comments during a press conference at the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, Russian state news agency TASS reported.
This comes days after Putin signed a presidential decree that would allow people who permanently reside in certain areas of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions to apply for Russian citizenship through a simplified process.
The EU condemned the decree Thursday “as another attack on Ukraine’s sovereignty by Russia.” The plan also drew condemnation from the U.S. and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
The Russian government said that the new decree is designed to help people on humanitarian grounds, “protecting human and citizens’ rights and freedoms.”
Putin’s new comments were met with outrage from Ukrainian officials.
“Russia wants further escalation and chaos in Ukraine and therefore continues to complicate the rules of the game,” Dmytro Kuleba, Kiev’s permanent representative to the Council of Europe, tweeted.
It comes a week after Ukraine elected Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a comedian and political novice, as its president. Putin said Saturday he would like to know Zelenskiy’s position on the conflict in eastern Ukraine, suggesting the new president may not implement a peace deal signed in 2015, according to Reuters.
“I’d discuss this matter with him with pleasure as I want to understand his stance,” Putin said.
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