Putin - Russia did have people in Ukraine doing 'certain military tasks'

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his annual end-of-year news conference in Moscow, Russia, December 17, 2015. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia did have personnel in eastern Ukraine who were carrying out certain military tasks but denied Moscow had deployed regular troops there.

"We never said there were no people there who were carrying out certain tasks including in the military sphere," Putin told an annual news conference.