Polish ex-minister quoted saying Putin offered to divide Ukraine with Poland

Russia's President Vladimir Putin gestures as he speaks during a news conference after the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Milan, October 17, 2014. REUTERS/Vasily Maximov/Pool

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's parliamentary speaker, Radoslaw Sikorski, has been quoted as saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed to Poland's then leader in 2008 that they divide Ukraine between themselves.

Sikorski, who until September served as Poland's foreign minister, was quoted telling U.S. website Politico that Putin made the proposal during Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk's visit to Moscow in 2008 - although he later said some of the interview had been "overinterpreted".