Putin describes meeting to take Crimea before referendum

[webfact]

Putin describes meeting to take Crimea before referendum
By LAURA MILLS

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has described a secret meeting with officials last year when Russia decided it would take the Crimean Peninsula, the Black Sea region that Moscow annexed from Ukraine last March.

In a trailer for an upcoming documentary, shown on state-owned television late Sunday, Putin said that he met with security officials in February to make plans for saving Ukraine's then-President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled power after months of pro-European protests in the Ukrainian capital.

"We got ready to get him right out of Donetsk by land, by sea or by air," he said. "Heavy machine guns were mounted there so that there wouldn't be much discussion about it."

Putin said that after the meeting he told the security chiefs that they would be "obliged to start working to return Crimea to Russia."

Putin said the meeting took place on Feb. 23, 2014, almost a month before a referendum in Crimea that Moscow has said is the basis for incorporating the region into Russia.

The minute-long trailer was overlaid with dramatic music and sweeping shots of the Crimean coast. The channel, Rossiya-1, didn't specify when the full film would be released.

The U.S. responded to Putin's remarks.

"Certainly, what we've seen is consistent with the deceitful approach we've seen when denying Russia's involvement in eastern Ukraine," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters in Washington.

The Kremlin originally denied that it had sent troops into Crimea, though Putin later announced on state television that Russian troops had been sent in. Yanukovych was safely on Russian soil by late February, when Russia's military was establishing its presence in Crimea.
___

Matthew Lee contributed to this report from Washington.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-03-10

[lovetotravel]

Kinda hard for people to think Russia is not behind the current war in Ukraine. Putin again has shown he's good at lying.

[Srikcir]

I wonder what other countries that Putin has already decided to support Russian insurgents before they appear - Eastern Europe? Although he will test the NATO alliance by doing so, unlike his invasion of Crimea and Ukraine. Whatever decision he makes, no one can say it will be the fault of Western nations but rather Putin's ego to become another Stalin.

Maybe Putin will turn his attention towards Asia where he can call upon his new security agreement with Thailand's Junta to give him some other opportunities for expanding the Russian empire.

[Baerboxer]

Kinda hard for people to think Russia is not behind the current war in Ukraine. Putin again has shown he's good at lying.

He's also showing his liking for bravado and by revealing publicly what happened, or his latest version of events, that he doesn't care what America and EU thinks.

A bully gets braver the more he gets away with. This guy is becoming very dangerous. I know Russian business people who used to joke about him, but with in a tolerant way. Now they are either behind him or worried.

[Scott]

Off-topic post and reply removed.