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Kiev’s gas cutoff to Donetsk sign of 'smacks of genocide': Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) speaks at a joint news conference with Cyprus' President Nicos Anastasiades in Moscow, on February 25, 2015.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has harshly reacted to a decision by Kiev to switch off gas supplies to the war-ravaged eastern parts of Ukraine, saying the move is clearly ‘smacks of genocide’.

Putin said Wednesday that cutting off gas supplies to the people in Donetsk region, who have already been hit by huge plights such as hunger and displacement, bears the hallmarks of genocide.

“It's not enough that there's already hunger there, and the OSCE (the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) has reported a humanitarian catastrophe, but then to switch off their gas supplies too! What do you call that? That already smacks of genocide,” Putin said during a meeting with President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades in Moscow.

Russia has started its own delivery of gas to the eastern regions of Ukraine after authorities in the self-proclaimed Donetsk Republic asked Moscow last week to provide them with access to the vital energy source in the current freezing temperatures.  

Ukraine's national gas company, Naftogaz, has confirmed the gas cutoff to the eastern regions, saying the move was due to a pipeline damage caused by fighting in the area.

However, Putin reprimanded the Ukrainian authorities for the decision, which he said is a sign of their disregard for humanity.

“Apparently, some responsible leaders of the modern-day Ukraine are unable to understand the importance of humanitarian issues. It seems that the very notion of humanism has been forgotten,” Putin said.

Nearly 5,700 people have been killed and close to a million have been displaced since the armed conflict began in east Ukraine in April 2014.

A deal for the withdrawal of heavy weaponry in east Ukraine was reached between leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany on February 12 in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. However, the deadly fighting has continued unabated with the both sides accusing each other of violating the truce.  

MS/HMV/SS


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