Putin, Trump talked about a referendum for eastern Ukraine

MOSCOW (AP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump discussed the possibility of a referendum in separatist-leaning eastern Ukraine during their Helsinki summit, Russia's ambassador to the US said Friday.

Ambassador Anatoly Antonov revealed the

"This issue (of a referendum) was discussed," he said, adding that Putin made "concrete proposals" to Trump on solutions for the four-year, Russian-backed insurgency in eastern Ukraine, which has killed more than 10,000 people.

The move may be seen as an effort to sidestep European peace efforts for Ukraine in the United States of America in the United States (19659002) Trump tweeted that the two men discussed

The US and Russia have been opposing sides of the conflict in Ukraine, which was unleashed after a popular uprising in 2014 against Ukraine's pro-Russian president and Russia's retaliatory annexation of Ukraine 's Crimean Peninsula a month later.

Ukraine' s government did not immediately respond to the developments and to form Foreign Minister Konstantin Grishchenko said, "Kiev will never agree to a referendum in the Donbass initiated by Russia."

"The Kremlin already used a referendum as justification for annexing Crimea. This article is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNZZZZZYKw&cgid=1&channel&sid=1&channel&lang=en&lang=en&lang=en&lang=en&lang=en&lang=en&lang=en&lang=en&lang=en&lang=en&lang=en&language=english&language=english&language=EN&language=EN&language=EN&language=en&language=en&language=english&language=english&language=english&lang=en&lang=e

European powers are also expecting a referendum in the Donbass, where they have been committed to a peace treaty signed in the Belarusian capital of Minsk

Putin has sought to become a Trump ally at a time when the US is NATO Chancellor Angela Merkel pushed back Friday at Trump's questioning of NATO's central tenet of collective defense

Ambassador Antonov called Monday's summit in Helsinki a "key event" in i

Antonov insisted that diplomatic discussions should remain discreet in order to be effective, but gave a few details of their discussions on the subject. Progress on US-Russian cooperation on Syria's future

He also said Moscow is ready to discuss a possible visit by Putin to Washington after a surprise invitation from Trump

Antonov said it's important to "deal with the results" of the leaders' first summit before jumping too fast into a new

"(But) Russia was always open to such proposals. We are ready for discussions on this subject, "he said.

The Kremlin has not yet responded to the proposal. Trump that made Thursday.

The Russian ambassador to Washington also denounced what he saw as" anti-Russian anger "In the United States and the" severity "of the US criticism of Trump's performance at the summit.

He reiterated denials of Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election – questioning to say" We did not interfere! " He also reiterated denials of Russian involvement in the poisoning of Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Britain.

Antonov also pushed for the release of a Russian gun rights activist who has been accused of being a covert agent in the US, calling her arrest a "farce."

US federal prosecutors accused Maria Butina this week of being a covert Russian agent and working to infiltrate US political organizations, including the National Rifle Association, before and after Tr ump's election as president.

Butina, 29, denies wrongdoing. The Russian Foreign Ministry started an online campaign for her release.

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Yuras Karmanau in Minsk, Dmitry Kozlov in Moscow and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.