Moscow, Feb 22 (AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Tuesday for international recognition of Crimea as part of Russia, an end to Ukraine's NATO membership bid and a halt to weapons shipments there.

Putin claimed that Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula should be internationally recognised as a legitimate reflection of the local population's choice, likening it to a vote for Kosovo independence. The annexation has been widely condemned by Western powers as a breach of international law.

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To end the current crisis, he also called for the renunciation of Ukraine's NATO bid, saying it should assume a “neutral status,” and said that the West should stop sending weapons there. (AP)

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