Putin comments on changes regarding his special representative for the crisis in Ukraine
(Interfax) Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied that the recent decision on removing Boris Gryzlov, the special presidential representative on the Ukraine crisis, from the Russian Security Council might imply the lowering of the level of Russia's mediation in the Ukraine settlement process.
"No. We simply met with him recently and agreed that he, as my special representative, would focus his work precisely on this track related to the settlement in southeastern Ukraine," Putin said in an interview shown in a Saturday news program hosted by Sergei Brilev on Rossia-1 (VGTRK) television channel, when asked whether the decision to remove Gryzlov from the Security Council meant that Russia would attach less priority to its mediating efforts in Ukraine.
Putin pointed out that, as Gryzlov is no longer a permanent member of the Russian Security Council, "he would not have to be distracted by regular Security Council meetings, which are often routine."
Barring any major developments, that ends the live blogging for today.
It's nice to see that other newsrooms may be having this style discussion. (RFE/RL's English transliteration concurs with Kruse. We use Volodymyr Hroysman, based on the Ukrainian spelling of the name, not the Russian.)