Crimea: one year with RussiaA year ago the outbreak of nationalism spurred Russians to assist people living in Crimea, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said in a film called Way to Motherland broadcasted by Rossiya 1 TV channel on Sunday."We were done by about 7. And, I must say, I told all my counterparts (they were four): The situation in Ukraine is such that we have to begin working on returning of Crimea into Russia, as we cannot abandon that territory and people living there into the hands of the nationalists," Itar Tass quotes Putin as saying. "Crimea - is not some obscure area for us. Crimea - is the historical Russian, Russian territory, with a predominantly Russian population, and we are forced to act because they put us in such circumstances, in such conditions. They even have left us no choice. We had to just protect these people," - Itar Tass quotes as saying."The final objective was not seizure of Crimea or whatever annexation. The final objective was to give an opportunity to the people to express their will regarding how they would want to live. I am telling you quite openly and honestly. My thoughts were: if this is what people want, this is the way it will be. This means they will be with some bigger autonomy, with some rights, though a part of the Ukrainian state. Let it be so. But if they want it otherwise, we cannot leave them. We know results of the poll. Thus, we acted the way should have," Vladimir Putin says in the film, Itar Tass reports.A year ago, on March 16, 2014 Crimea held a referendum as a result of which 96.77 % people voted for the reunification of Crimea with Russia.
A year ago an outbreak of nationalism spurred Russians to assist people living in Crimea, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said in a film called Way to Motherland broadcast by the Rossiya-1 TV channel on Sunday.
"We were done by about 7. And, I must say, I told all my counterparts (they were four): "The situation in Ukraine is such that we have to begin working on returning Crimea to Russia, as we cannot abandon that territory and the people living there in the hands of the nationalists," Itar Tass quotes Putin as saying.
"Crimea is not some obscure area for us. Crimea is historically Russian, Russian territory, with a predominantly Russian population, and we are forced to act because they put us in such circumstances, in such conditions. They even have left us no choice. We just had to protect these people," Itar Tass quotes Putin as saying.
"The final objective was not the seizure of Crimea or whatever annexation. The final objective was to give an opportunity to the people to express their will regarding how they would want to live. I am telling you quite openly and honestly. My thoughts were: if this is what people want, this is the way it will be. This means they will be with some bigger autonomy, with some rights, though a part of the Ukrainian state. Let it be so. But if they want it otherwise, we cannot leave them. We know the results of the poll. Thus, we acted the way should have," Vladimir Putin says in the film, Itar Tass reports.
A year ago, on March 16, 2014 Crimea held a referendum, as a result of which 96.77 % people voted for the reunification of Crimea with Russia.
