Putin sees 'positive shift' in talks

Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said some progress had been made in Moscow's talks with Ukraine, while the Kremlin said the conflict would end when the West took action to address Moscow's concerns.

At a Kremlin meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Putin said Western sanctions would not hinder Russian development and that Russia would end up stronger.

He then said Ukrainian negotiations were taking place practically every day.

"There are certain positive shifts, negotiators on our side tell me," Putin said. "I will talk about all of this later." Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ukraine's Dmytro Kuleba met in Turkey on Thursday in the highest-level talks since the conflict began. No breakthrough was made.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands, displaced more than 2 million people, and raised fears of a wider confrontation between Russia and the United States.

US intelligence agents say Russia has been surprised by the strength of Ukrainian resistance and by the severity of the economic sanctions imposed by the West.

Russia has so far shown no sign that it is changing course.

Belarusian President Lukashenko told Putin that both of them were from Soviet generations which had endured sanctions and that the Soviet Union had developed well.

"You are right," Putin said. The Soviet Union lived all the time under sanctions but it developed and made colossal achievements."

The Kremlin said on Friday the conflict in Ukraine would end when the West took action over Russia's repeatedly raised concerns about the killing of civilians in eastern Ukraine and NATO enlargement eastwards. Continued on Page 7