Instead of launching negotiations the army was enforced, Russian President said ST. PETERSBURG, June 19. /TASS/. Russia has been trying for eight years to reach an agreement to resolve the situation in southeastern Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. "People in [Ukraine’s] southeast refused to recognize this coup [in Kiev in 2014]," Putin said at a meeting with heads of leading international news agencies, organized by TASS. "However, instead of launching negotiations with them the