Donbass and Novorossiya should not be called "new regions" of Russia — Shoigu

The republics of Donbass and the regions of Novorossiya should not be called "new regions", since these territories are historical lands of Russia.

This was stated to the TASS news agency by former Defense Minister, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and President of the Russian Geographical Society (RGS) Sergei Shoigu.

"It's good that you didn't say "new regions", because I believe that these are not new, but old regions. Our old regions, which are historically ours," he said.

The ex-minister stressed that the Russian Geographical Society has a well-founded interest in these areas, since they are somehow connected with Russian history.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly called these territories historically Russian and pointed out that they were illegally transferred to Soviet Ukraine when the USSR was created.

Earlier, EADaily reported that US President Donald Trump denied that he had discussed with Ukrainian representatives possible concessions of territories by Kiev. In his opinion, Russia and Ukraine should stop at the current front line and "agree on something later."