Putin takes hard line on Ukraine truce during Olympic Games

President Vladimir Putin lays flowers in Harbin on Friday at the Soviet martyrs' monument, built to commemorate Red Army soldiers who died during the second World War. Photograph: Alexander Ryumin/Getty Imagescall for a global truce during the Olympics. But Mr Putin said the requirement for Russia n athletes to compete as neutrals in the Games was a violation of Olympic principles.

‘I don’t think the West really understands’: A Ukrainian writer on his journey from torture camp to the front line“A ceasefire would not prevent military hardware from getting closer and then turning the offensive on. I don’t understand the details. To me it sounds like an unviable story,” he said. Switzerland will host a peace conference outside Lucerne next month but Russia has not been invited to take part. Mr Putin dismissed the conference, where the discussion will be based on Ukraine’s peace plan which calls for the withdrawal of Russian forces from all Ukrainian territory including Crimea.

“They just want to get as many countries as they can together. They want to convince them that the conditions presented by the Ukrainian side are the best ones and then they want to present us with this ultimatum: the entire world wants you to do this, agree to this. Is this a way to be engaged in serious, substantive talks?”

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