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Ukraine is governed by aggressive nationalist minority — Putin

The Russian president stressed that even those Ukrainian leaders who had happened to rise to power with reliance on support from the electorate in the southeast of Ukraine eventually changed their political stance to the opposite because the "aggressive nationalist minority suppressed any freedom of making decisions the people of Ukraine were expecting"

SOCHI, October 21. /TASS/. Ukraine is under the administration of a nationalist minority regardless of who is the head of state, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

Speaking at a meeting of the international Valdai Discussion Club he said that those who disagreed with the Ukrainian authorities’ policies were afraid to raise their heads or participate in opinion polls.

"They feel afraid, because a small group of people, who have misappropriated the status of winners in the struggle for independence - and they are people of extreme political views - in fact governs the country, regardless of what the name of the head of state is," Putin said.

He stressed that even those Ukrainian leaders who had happened to rise to power with reliance on support from the electorate in the southeast of Ukraine eventually changed their political stance to the opposite because the "aggressive nationalist minority suppressed any freedom of making decisions the people of Ukraine were expecting."

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