Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he was informed about the appeal of the State Duma regarding the recognition of the independence of the DPR and LPR.

“The first is the vote in the State Duma. Just before the press conference, I was told by administration officials [about this],” he told reporters after talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

According to the president, in Russia the vast majority of citizens support the residents of Donbass, and the deputies are sensitive to public opinion.

“Deputies of parliament, as in any country, in Russia are guided by public opinion, the opinion of their voters, they feel it subtly. And this is quite obvious: in our country, the vast majority of people sympathize with the residents of Donbass, support them and hope that the situation there will radically will change for the better for them,” Putin said.

He pointed out that the possibilities for the implementation of the Minsk agreements have not yet been realized, Russia expects that a solution will be found.

Putin recalled that “there were two drafts, one of them was presented by United Russia, which has an overwhelming majority [in parliament], and the second draft, more stringent, was a direct appeal to the president to recognize these republics.” Voting, according to him, was open, free, party discipline did not work here, “and the majority of deputies supported the resolution, which was presented, in fact, by the opposition party of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.”

“I will proceed from the premise that we must do everything to solve the problems of Donbass, but to do this, first of all, based on the not fully realized opportunities for the implementation of the Minsk agreements. We very much rely on the fact that our partners both overseas and in Europe, primarily Germany and France, will have a corresponding influence on the current authorities in Kiev, and this solution will be found,” Putin said.