Peskov confirms Merkel claim that Putin forced militants to agree to ceasefire

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"It took a fair amount of flexibility from all the parties, to save the perseverance and to defend their interests,” Peskov told the channel.

“And, of course, there were some points that were not acceptable to the militants... And, of course, in this situation, Putin had to make all his efforts to work with the militants," Peskov said.

Asked how Putin contacted Oleksandr Zakharchenko, the leader of the DPR, and Ihor Plotnytskiy, the leader of the LPR, Peskov said: "In the proper way."

As UNIAN reported earlier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Russian President Vladimir Putin exerted pressure on the leaders of the Donbas militants during the peace talks in Minsk to make them agree to a ceasefire from 0000 on February 15.