BBC Online :President Putin has called for talks to discuss “statehood” for eastern Ukraine, Russian media report. He said the issue needed to be discussed to ensure the interests of local people “are definitely upheld”.His comments came after the EU gave Russian a one-week ultimatum to reverse course in Ukraine or face sanctions. Russia denies Western accusations that its forces have illegally crossed into eastern Ukraine to support separatists there. Mr Putin said it was impossible to predict the end of crisis. “It largely depends on the political will of current Ukrainian authorities,” the Russian Itar Tass agency quoted him as saying. “Russia cannot stand aside when people are being shot at almost at point blank,” he added. He dismissed the EU’s threat of further sanctions, accusing the EU of “backing a coup d’etat” in Ukraine. Pro-Russian rebels have made gains against Ukrainian troops in recent days in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Some 2,600 people have died in fighting. The conflict in the east erupted in April following Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s southern Crimea peninsula a month before.
