He said this in an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin, who posted a fragment of the conversation on his Telegram.
“We counted on the integrity of our partners. They hoped that the agreements that were reached in Minsk - the Minsk agreements - would ultimately be implemented by everyone. We only later learned the true state of affairs, when the former German Chancellor and the French President said that they did not intend to implement these agreements,” he said.
According to him, the Russian side tried to implement the agreements, “no matter how difficult they may be for both sides.”
Earlier, Putin said that everything that happens in the Ukrainian direction is fate for Russia, a matter of life and death.