MOSCOW. April 17 (Interfax) - Questions the Kremlin is receiving for President Vladimir Putin to answer in a planned live television program on Thursday include some from Ukraine, with some of the messages being anti-Russian and some containing demands that Putin move troops into the east of the country, Putin's spokesman said on Wednesday.
"The Ukrainians from western regions are being critical. They can't understand the essence of what has happened, they believe that Russia is behaving aggressively. They are obviously largely made ignorant by the information blockade under which they find themselves. Because behind those questions one can see the fact that Russian television channels have been taken off the air and that they are only able to receive information from one side," Dmitry Peskov told Russia's Vesti 24 television.
"There is a sense of grievance, there are quite Russophobic messages. Though, on the other hand, there are appeals to come back to one's senses - appeals probably not so much to Putin as to all of us: What on earth are we doing, how can the Russians and Ukrainians have gone as far as that?" Peskov said.
At the same time, people from eastern Ukraine "complain about Putin's indecision concerning the east of Ukraine," he said. "People are absolutely seriously demanding urgent measures. People are criticizing him: How long are you going to wait for, how long are we going to be brutalized before you move troops into the east of Ukraine?" the spokesman said.
Some of the people from the east are wondering what Russia would do if a referendum were held in the east and the latter voted for independence from Ukraine, Peskov said.
There are "too many such questions to ignore them," the spokesman said. The same goes for questions as to how Russian citizenship can be obtained, he said.