MOSCOW. Dec 10 (Interfax) - Ukraine regaining control over its border with Russia in the absence of an amnesty law for residents of Donbas risks a massacre of the citizens of the self-proclaimed republics, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
Possible persecution of the people living in the Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics was among the topics discussed by Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris on Monday, the Russian president said at a meeting with the members of the Presidential Human Rights Council.
"The amnesty law has yet to be passed. It was agreed upon as far back as 2015, there were some resolutions, but nothing is being enforced. And the Ukrainian side keeps asking: give us a chance to close the border with troops," Putin said.
"But I can imagine what will happen then. It will be another Srebrenica," he said.
The Srebrenica massacre of Muslims in July 1995 was one of the bloodiest pages of the history of the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia.
"We saw President Zelensky holding a discussion with nationalists, it is not clear who is stronger there," Putin said. "Nor is it clear what will happen there and who will lead them once they enter those territories without giving any guarantees to their people," Putin said.
He said the problem was political and promised to "bear in mind" the cases of the Russians convicted in Ukraine. "We will bear this in mind during negotiations with Ukraine," he said, while admitting that "this problem really is outside the legal field."
"This was also a topic of our [Normandy Four] discussions yesterday, we talked for long, I only left the Elysee Palace at 3 a.m. Moscow time," Putin said.