Putin getting requests for help from eastern Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin is receiving many requests for help from eastern Ukraine, where pro-Moscow protesters have clashed with authorities, and is watching the situation with "great concern", his spokesman said on Monday. "Unfortunately, we are receiving a lot of such requests from the regions of east Ukraine, addressed personally to Putin, with a request to help, to intervene in some form," Russian news agencies quoted Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying. "The Russian president is watching the development of the situation in these regions with great concern."