Putin's key Kremlin aide responsible for Ukraine unrest resigns, says ally

The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there was no official decree on Vladislav Surkov's resignation and that there had been no change in policy

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s longtime Kremlin aide Vladislav Surkov, who was responsible for handling separatist forces in Ukraine, quit over unspecified policy differences, said his longtime ally Alexei Chesnakov.

The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there was no official decree on Surkov’s resignation and that there had been no change in policy.

The contradictory statements come at a time of new hopes for ending the violence in eastern Ukraine, where Russia backs separatists in the Donbas and Luhansk regions. Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, have agreed to continue prisoner exchanges and the withdrawal of some troops.