Russia will respect the outcome of Ukraine’s presidential election, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.
However, Mr. Putin stopped short of declaring Sunday’s poll as legitimate, saying merely that Moscow hopes for an end of the crisis in Ukraine.
“We see that Ukrainians want their country to overcome this prolonged crisis. We also want that there will be a sort of settlement in the end and we respect the choice of the Ukrainian people,” he said during a discussion at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.