VLADIVOSTOK. Sept 5 (Interfax) - The new Ukrainian administration will make a big mistake if it starts persecuting the opposition, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"If the incumbent administration starts with persecuting the opposition, nothing good will come out of this," Putin said at a panel session of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Thursday.
Putin said he was speaking about the parliamentary opposition trusted by a significant number of voters, "which was proven during the democratic elections and voting."
"Therefore, it would be strange if they started tightening some screws in this sense. They [opposition members] are not running around squares, not demanding something impossible, but they are acting within the framework of the Ukrainian constitution, within the framework of the existing law, and, in my view, it would be a big mistake if some attempts were made to prevent them from exercising their constitutional rights," Putin said.