Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev on Monday said Moscow may have to recognise the independence of two breakaway republics in eastern Ukraine if the situation there does not improve, something he considers unlikely.
Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's security council, told President Vladimir Putin that he believed a majority of Russians would support the two regions' independence, in which he said around 800,000 Russian citizens live.
(Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh; Writing by Alexander Marrow)
