Putin warns of ‘carnage’ if Ukraine regains control over border in Donbas

Russian President Vladimir Putin, responding to the speech of the Russian propagandist Kirill Vyshinsky at a meeting of the Russian Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, said that Ukraine might arrange a massacre in the separatist-held territory of the Donbas. The statement was made several days after the Normandy Four Summit.

"The Ukrainian side always asks to allow them to close the border by deploying troops. I can imagine that something like the Srebrenica massacre will begin. That's all. We saw how the Ukrainian President Zelensky discusses different issues with the nationalists. It is unclear who is stronger and what will happen there, and who will lead them," said Putin.

The issue of border control, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, was one of the most difficult to discuss at the Normandy Four Summit. Zelensky still expects that a compromise on this issue can be reached with Putin. 

On October 19, 2017, at a session of the Valdai Discussion Club, Putin also said that closing the border between Russia and the unrecognized republics would lead to a situation like the Srebrenica massacre. Two months later, he repeated that at a press conference.

  Putin, Donbas, Zelensky, Ukraine