MOSCOW, December 10. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin fears that if Kiev gains control over the border in Donbass without providing guarantees of protection to its residents, nationalists might stage a massacre comparable to Srebrenica there. He expressed this opinion at a meeting of the Human Rights Council.
The Srebrenica massacre was the July 1995 genocide of more than 8,000 Bosniaks, mainly men and boys, in and around the town of Srebrenica during the Bosnian War.
"The Ukrainian side always raises the question: "Give us the opportunity to close the border with troops." Well, I imagine what will happen next. That will be a Srebrenica, that's it," Putin said.
"We saw how President [Vladimir] Zelensky led discussions with nationalists. It is clear who is stronger there," Putin noted.
"What will happen there? And who will lead them, these nationalists, when they enter these territories without providing guarantees to the people?" the Russian leader said.
The Russian President said that at their recent meeting in Paris the Ukrainian President and he in particular touched upon such an issue as possible prosecution of residents in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.
"The law on amnesty has not yet been adopted, although we agreed back in 2015 that they would adopt the law. They made some decisions, but nothing has been enacted," Putin said.