Donetsk, Oct 13 — DAN. Western countries have been preparing the conflict in Ukraine for a long time, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the Council of Heads of the Commonwealth of Independent States on Friday.
“Apparently a narrow group of countries does not want to part with their escaping status of hegemon and to this end, it directly provokes crises in various regions of the world, actively setting on fire the old and new flashpoints of conflicts, ” Putin said. “I’ve already mentioned Ukraine; for long years, the situation there was prepared for the ‘hot phase.’ You will recall that the Ukrainian crisis began in 2014, when the government coup was organized, which was followed by the fighting unleashed in southeastern Ukraine.”
He added that Russia’s special operation is aimed at ending this armed conflict.*jk