Russia President Vladimir Putin said that his country doesn’t want a confrontation with the West, adopting a softer tone as he defied Western criticism by visiting the Crimean peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in March.
In a speech to Russian parliamentary leaders and Crimean lawmakers on Thursday, Putin said that Russia would do everything in its power to halt the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The president’s low-key appearance, which wasn’t carried live on Russian television, marked a change in tone from recent public appearances during which he has castigated the US and Europe for provoking a confrontation over Ukraine.
Putin didn’t, however, offer any concrete proposals on how to solve the months-old conflict, in which Kiev’s forces have battled to oust Russian-backed separatists from several cities in the country’s east.
Ukraine and Western capitals have accused Russia of sending fighters and arms to fight in the conflict, a charge Moscow has denied.
