Putin receives reply to his letter from Poroshenko

Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the Russian authorities received the reply from Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that he had written to the letter from his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Putin had previously written a letter to Poroshenko, in which he formulated his suggestions regarding the regulation of the crisis in the Donbass. 

"We have received and studied it," Peskov said, RIA Novosti reports. 

In mid-January, Putin sent a written letter to President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. The letter contained a suggestion plan for the parties to withdraw heavy artillery from the demarcation line in the Donbass. Ukrainian Minister for Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin confirmed January 20 that Kiev received the letter from Putin.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier that judging from Poroshenko's oral reaction, Moscow assumed that he was ready to discuss it.  

According to Poroshenko's press service, in his reply to Putin, he demanded compliance with the Minsk agreement in the regulation of the conflict in the Donbass. Poroshenko also asked Putin to release Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, who is suspected of the murder of Russian journalists.