Russian President Vladimir Putin told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that his troops are withdrawing from the border with Ukraine.
That Russia is "gradually withdrawing" its soldiers from the border with Ukraine, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, which fears an invasion of the eastern part of the country after Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula, told Agence France-Presse earlier today.
"Russian forces are gradually withdrawing from the border," said spokesman Oleksiy Dmitrashkivski, who states that this may be related to last night's negotiations between Russia and the US in Paris.
The president of Ukraine's National Security Council, Andriy Parubiy, said on Thursday that Moscow had amassed 100.000 troops along the border with Ukraine, which Moscow denied.
American estimates were that there are about 20.000 Russian soldiers on the border of Ukraine and the withdrawal of soldiers was set as a precondition for getting out of the crisis, which was repeated by US Secretary of State John Kerry last night in Paris after meeting with the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergey Lavrov.
Kerry and Lavrov talked for about four hours last night at the residence of the Russian ambassador in Paris about finding a solution to the Ukrainian crisis and the conflict between Moscow and Western countries after the annexation of Crimea to Russia in mid-March. Lavrov said on Saturday that Moscow has "no intention or interest" to cross the border with Ukraine.
The Ministry for Crimea was formed
Today, Putin signed a decree on the formation of the Ministry of Affairs related to Crimea.
Putin put Oleg Savelyev at the head of that ministry, the press service of the Russian president announced.
The new ministry was formed "in order to increase the efficiency of the work of the federal executive authorities in connection with the integration of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol into the economic, financial and legal system of the Russian Federation", says the text of this document, which was transmitted by Itar Tas s.
As stated in the decree, the authority for the development of the program for Crimea, the control of the fulfillment of the authority for the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, which were given to them in accordance with the Russian legislation, were transferred to that ministry.
The decree that Putin signed today entered into force immediately, as did the decree appointing Savelyev to the position of Minister for Crimea.
Until now, Saveljev worked as the Deputy Minister for Economic Development.
Medvedev: Crimea will be a special economic zone
Russia will give Crimea the status of a special economic zone with tax benefits and simplified bureaucracy so that it can attract investors, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said today.
Medvedev in conversation with Crimean Prime Minister Sergej Aksyonov (photo: Reuters)
"Our goal is to make the peninsula as attractive as possible for investors so that it can generate enough income to finance its development," Medvedev said at a cabinet meeting on the social and economic development of Crimea and Sevastopol in Simferopol, Reuters reports.
Foreign Ministers of France and Russia, Laurent Fabius and Sergey Lavrov, today started talks in Paris on solutions to the crisis in Ukraine.
At that session, as planned, the implementation of the instructions given at the cabinet session on March 24 on aid for the two new entities of the Russian Federation will be discussed, the press service of the Russian government announced, the Itar Tas agency reported.
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