Putin's shift in rhetoric
Russia's President Vladimir Putin said yesterday it was welcome that fighting had stopped in eastern Ukraine, a change in rhetoric compared to his previous accusations against Ukraine for violating a ceasefire. Until recently Putin has repeatedly criticised Ukraine for failing to implement a peace deal agreed in February, including by continued shelling of rebel-held areas. Putin was on the latest of several visits to Crimea, again putting Russia's stamp on the region it annexed from Ukraine last year during political upheaval in that country. This time he was meeting his old friend Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian prime minister, on a private visit.
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