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Spain should itself work out solution for Catalonia, says Putin

The Russian leader welcomed the fact that so far Spain has managed to cope with the issues, concerning "problem regions"

ST. PETERSBURG, June 6. /TASS/. It is up to Spain to settle the issue of its territorial integrity, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with a group of world news agencies’ chiefs organized by TASS on Thursday.

"The same concerns Spain. Spain must itself decide how to exist, including with its problem regions, with Catalonia and in the north," Putin said, adding that he was referring to the Basque Country and other problems.

He welcomed the fact that so far Spain has managed to cope with these issues. "We expect that these issues will be settled in a dialogue and on the basis of legitimate decisions approved in discussion," he added.

Moscow has great respect for Spain, the Spanish people and Spanish history, the Russian leader stressed. "We have good, comprehensive relations, very good historical roots. We are in no way interested in seeing European countries disintegrate one after another," Putin summed up.

The 2019 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is being held on June 6-8. The forum’s motto this year is "Creating a Sustainable Development Agenda". The organizer for SPIEF-2019 is the Roscongress Foundation. TASS is a media partner, the official photo hosting agency and the operator of SPIEF’s presentation zones with support from multinational firm EY, and the Foreign Investment Advisory Council in Russia.

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Vladimir Putin Spain

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