Pushilin and Bolotov decried it as unacceptable, with calls already in the Russian press for a simple ceasefire with no preconditions and, when there's discussions and negotiations, that they and their military be considered a "part of the people" and representing the clear will of the people. Along with the removal of the Ukrainian forces from "their" territory.

Which sounds like "preconditions" to me, but which RIA Novosti think are non-conditions. (Then again, they said that the checkpoint, armored vehicles, and military transport trucks that were shelled yesterday and near which the unregistered Russian reporters were standing weren't military targets. You had to look at the footage the reporters' shot to see where they were. Later edits in the Russian media removed much of that footage, so you couldn't see where they were. It's like the Russia Channel 1 report that Yarosh got 37% of the vote. Or the claims that the opolchentsy didn't shoot down the Il-76 cargo plane. If it's never mentioned again in the echo chamber, it never happened. And if it's mentioned again, it means that you're hostile to Russia and a fascist.)