The remark about Ukraine, the Minsk peace deal and "the beauty" was meant to say that the agreements should be implemented, and had no personal dimension, Russian President Vladimir Putin told journalists in the Kremlin on Thursday.
"It didn't have any personal dimension, let me put it bluntly. I have never in my work over the years got personal, and this had no personal dimension," Putin told reporters in a comment on Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s reply to the Russian leader’s ‘beauty’ remark.
"When we hear these comments from the head of state that he likes and doesn’t like something in the fundamental treaties that regulate very important relations between countries in terms of security, including Ukraine itself, it seems to me that this is not the right format. If a state has undertaken certain commitments, especially those enshrined in the norms of international law, in the UN Security Council resolution, then everything should be fulfilled and agreements should be reached on how to do it," Putin explained.
At the news conference after the talks in Moscow with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Monday, Putin drew attention to Zelensky’s recent statement that he did not like any points of the Minsk peace deal. Putin emphasized that the Minsk accords should be implemented since there is no alternative to these agreements. Then, he said: 'Like it or not, my beauty, you have to put up with it', using an expression that rhymes in Russian.
