Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) chairs a meeting on economic and social issues, as Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev sits nearby, in Moscow, May 7, 2014. REUTERS/Alexei Druzhinin/RIA Novosti/Kremlin
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin's call for pro-Moscow separatists to postpone an independence referendum in eastern Ukraine shows the Russian president has achieved as much as he can for now without taking the potentially catastrophic step of sending in troops.
The Russian president's assertion that he has withdrawn forces from the Ukraine border - the White House says it has seen no evidence of this - was a clear sign that he wants to take the heat out of worst East-West row since the Cold War.
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