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Putin in film on Crimea: US masterminds behind Ukraine coup, helped train radicals
15
March, 2015
The
Ukrainian armed coup was organized from Washington, Russian President
Vladimir Putin stated in an interview for a new documentary aired
Sunday. The Americans tried to hide behind the Europeans, but Moscow
saw through the trick, he added.
“The
trick of the situation was that outwardly the [Ukrainian] opposition
was supported mostly by the Europeans. But we knew for sure that the
real masterminds were our American friends,”Putin said in a
documentary, 'Crimea - The Way Home,' aired by Rossiya 1 news
channel.
“They
helped training the nationalists, their armed groups, in Western
Ukraine, in Poland and to some extent in Lithuania,” he added.
“They facilitated the armed coup.”
The
West spared no effort to prevent Crimea’s reunification with
Russia, “by any means, in any format and under any scheme," he
noted.
Putin
said this approach was far from being the best dealing with any
country, and a post-Soviet country like Ukraine specifically. Such
countries have a short record of living under a new political system
and remain fragile. Violating constitutional order in such a country
inevitably deal a lot of damage to its statehood, the president said.
Soldiers
near a military base in the village of Perevalnoe, Crimea where a
coastal defense brigade blocked the Ukrainian Navy (RIA
Novosti)Soldiers near a military base in the village of Perevalnoe,
Crimea where a coastal defense brigade blocked the Ukrainian Navy
(RIA Novosti)
“The
law was thrown away and crashed. And the consequences were grave
indeed. Part of the country agreed to it, while another part wouldn’t
accept it. The country was shattered,” Putin explained.
He
also accused the beneficiaries of the coup of planning an
assassination of then-President Viktor Yanukovich. Russia was
prepared to act to ensure his escape, Putin said.
“I
invited the heads of our special services, the Defense Ministry and
ordered them to protect the life of the Ukrainian president.
Otherwise he would have been killed,” he said, adding that at one
point Russian signal intelligence, which was tracking the president’s
motorcade route, realized that he was about to be ambushed.
Yanukovich
himself didn’t want to leave and rejected the offer to be evacuated
from Donetsk, Putin said. Only after spending several days in Crimea
and realizing that “there was no one he could negotiate with in
Kiev” he asked to be taken to Russia.
Viktor
Yanukovich after a news conference in Rostov-on-Don (RIA
Novosti)Viktor Yanukovich after a news conference in Rostov-on-Don
(RIA Novosti)
The
Russian president personally ordered preparation of the Crimean
special operation the morning after Yanukovich fled, saying that “we
cannot let the [Crimean] people be pushed under the steamroller of
the nationalists.”
“I
[gave them] their tasks, told them what to do and how we must do it,
and stressed that we would only do it if we were absolutely sure that
this is what the people living in Crimea want us to do,” Putin
said. He added that an emergency public opinion poll indicated that
at least 75 percent of the people wanted to join Russia.
“Our
goal was not to take Crimea by annexing it. Our final goal was to
allow the people express their wishes on how they want to live,” he
said.
“I
decided for myself: what the people want will happen. If they want
greater autonomy with some extra rights within Ukraine, so be it. If
they decide otherwise, we cannot fail them. You know the results of
the referendum. We did what we had to do,” Putin said.
He
added that his personal involvement helped expedite things, because
the people carrying out his decision had no reason to hesitate.
According
to Putin, part of the operation was to deploy K-300P Bastion coastal
defense missiles to demonstrate Russia’s willingness to protect the
peninsula from military attack.
“We
deployed them in a way that made them seen clearly from space,”
Putin said.
The
president assured that the Russian military were prepared for any
developments and would have armed nuclear weapons if necessary. He
personally was not sure that Western nations would not use military
force against Russia, he added.
A
tent camp of the supporters of Ukraine's integration with the EU on
Maidan Square in Kiev where clashes between protesters and police
began in February 18, 2014 (RIA Novosti / Alexey Furman)A tent camp
of the supporters of Ukraine's integration with the EU on Maidan
Square in Kiev where clashes between protesters and police began in
February 18, 2014 (RIA Novosti / Alexey Furman)
In
order to demilitarize the Ukrainian troops based in Crimea, Russia
sent the army's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) forces, the
president said.
“A
specific set of personnel was needed to block and demilitarize 20,000
people, who were well-armed. Not only in quantity, but in quality,”
Putin said, adding that he gave orders to the Defense Ministry to
“deploy the special forces of the GRU, together with marine forces
and paratroopers.”
However,
according to Putin, the number of Russian forces did not exceed the
limit of 20,000 authorized under the agreement on basing the Russian
Black Sea Fleet at its military base in Crimea.
“As
we didn’t exceed the number of personnel on our base in Crimea,
strictly speaking, nothing was violated,” he said.
The
Russian president added that the move to send additional Russian
troops to secure Crimea and allow a referendum to be freely held
there prevented major bloodshed on the peninsula.
“Considering
the ethnic composition of the Crimean population, the violence there
would have been worse [than in Kiev]. We had to act to prevent
negative development, not to allow tragedies like the one that
happened in Odessa, where dozens of people were burned alive,”
Putin said.
He
acknowledged that there were some Crimean people, particularly
members of the Crimean Tatar minority, who opposed the Russian
operation.
“Some
of the Crimean Tatars were under the influence of their leaders, some
of whom are so to speak ‘professional’ fighters for the rights of
the Tatars,” he explained.
Simferopol
residents attending the "Crimea-Spring" concert on Lenin
Square in the city center on the day of voting in a referendum about
the status of Crimea (RIA Novosti)Simferopol residents attending the
"Crimea-Spring" concert on Lenin Square in the city center
on the day of voting in a referendum about the status of Crimea (RIA
Novosti)
But
at the same time the “Crimean militia worked together with the
Tatars. And there were Tatars among the militia members,” he
stressed.
The
Crimean people voted in a referendum to join Russia after rejecting a
coup-imposed government that took power in Kiev in February 2014. The
move sparked a major international controversy, as the new
government’s foreign backers accused Russia of annexing the
peninsula through military force.
Moscow
insists that the move was a legitimate act of self-determination and
that the Russian troops acted only to provide security and not as an
occupying force. Russian officials cite the example of Kiev’s
military crackdown on the dissenting eastern Donetsk and Lugansk
regions, which claimed more than 6,000 lives since April 2014, as an
example of bloodshed that Russia acted to prevent in Crimea.
This is what is available of the documentary in English
I wonder how many of the pundits reporting on what Putin said have actually watched it. I have.
A surprisingly objective synopsis from the Independent.
The key thing I have picked up from listening to Putin is that Russia never exceeded the 20,000 troops they were legally allowed to have and provided support to the local militias who resisted the Right Sector to take power by violence. The Ukrainian troops tried to maintain their oath of allegiance but the state to whom they had given this oath no longer existed. A historical parallel? Those in the Russian army who resisted the Bolsheviks who had usurped power.
Vladimir Putin says Russia was preparing to use nuclear weapons 'if necessary' and blames US for Ukraine crisis
15
March, 2015
Amid
ongoing Russian media speculation that the President was watching the
Crimea documentary from his sickbed, Mr Putin’s full interview with
Rossiya One provided new insight into his country’s involvement in
the annexation of the Black Sea peninsula.
In
the documentary, which marks a year since the referendum that saw
Russia take control of Crimea, Mr Putin described the Ukrainian
revolution to oust Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014 as an armed
coup “masterminded by our American friends”.
He
said Washington tried to “trick” the world into thinking the
regime change was “supported mostly by the Europeans”, according
to a translation of the interview on Russia Today.
But
he instead accused the US of orchestrating the crisis, saying: “They
helped training the nationalists, their armed groups, in Western
Ukraine, in Poland and to some extent in Lithuania. They facilitated
the armed coup.”
Mr
Putin expanded on comments aired ahead of the full documentary that
well-armed forces known as the “little green men” who helped
bring about the referendum in Crimea were indeed Russian soldiers.
He
also revealed that as part of the operation to take control of the
peninsula, Russia deployed K-300P Bastion coastal defence missile “in
a way that made them seen clearly from space” as a military
deterrent to the perceived threat of attack from the West.
And
on Russia’s willingness to arm nuclear weapons if necessary, Mr
Putin said: “We were ready to do this ... (Crimea) is our
historical territory. Russian people live there. They were in danger.
We cannot abandon them.”
The
documentary comes as speculation continues to grow about Mr Putin's
10-day absence from public view. After a number of cancelled meetings
in the past week, the opposition TV station Dozhd reportedly cited
anonymous sources on Sunday saying the leader was recuperating from
the flu in one of his country manors outside Moscow.
On
Monday, he is scheduled to take part in a meeting with the president
of Kyrgyzstan, in what would be his first public appearance before
the news media since 5 March.
Other
admissions made by Mr Putin in the documentary, which was entitled
“Crimea: The Road Back Home”, were that he ordered the defence
ministry to deploy elite units to Crimea “under the cover of
strengthening the protection of our military facilities”.
But
despite admitting this subterfuge, Mr Putin said Russian troop
numbers in the peninsula never exceeded the 20,000 allowed under the
terms of basing its Black Sea fleet there.
The
comments were reported on the state broadcaster’s website, after
the documentary aired in the Russian Far East but before it was due
to go out in Moscow.
Mr
Putin also confirmed that Russian forces oversaw the movement of the
ousted president Yanukovych from Kiev to Russia, and suggested that
those who benefited from the “armed coup” had plotted to
assassinate him.
“I
invited the heads of our special services, the Defense Ministry and
ordered them to protect the life of the Ukrainian president,” he
said. “Otherwise he would have been killed.”
Putin
says Russia deployed no additional forces in Crimea
Under
a relevant international treaty, Russia had the right to have 20,000
troops at the military base in Crimea
TASS,
16
March, 2015
VLADIVOSTOK,
March 15. /TASS/. Russia did not use a parliamentary mandate to
deploy its forces in Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in
a documentary "Crimea. The Path to the Motherland" that was
broadcasted by Russia’s television channel Rossiya 1 on Sunday.
"There
was no need to use the Federation Council (upper parliament house)
mandate to deploy our troops in Ukraine. Because under a relevant
international treaty we had the right to have 20,000 troops at our
military base in Crimea. Even slightly more. Even having reinforced
our base we did not have 20,000 servicemen there."
"Strictly
speaking, we did not violate anything since our contingent at the
base in Crimea was within the agreed level. And we deployed no
additional contingents," he said.
International
Media Hysterical Over Putin's Comment on Nuclear Readiness
While
Vladimir Putin said that the nuclear forces would have been put on
alert only to protect Russian citizens residing in Crimea, Western
media have been considering the implications of the statement an
aggression.
TASS,
16
March, 2015
MOSCOW
(Sputnik) — Leading western newspaper headlines have focused on
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comments about Russia’s
readiness to place its nuclear forces on alert in the event an
“unfavorable scenario” had unfolded in Crimea, despite the United
States and the United Kingdom making similar statements before.
"We
were ready to do it [place nuclear forces on alert]. I talked with
colleagues and told them that this [Crimea] is our historic
territory, Russian people live there, they are in danger and we
cannot leave them,” Putin said in the “Crimea. Way Back Home”
documentary released Sunday by Rossiya-1 TV.
While
Putin said that the nuclear forces would have been put on alert only
to protect Russian citizens residing in Crimea, Western media have
been considering the implications of the statement an aggression.
However, ownership of nuclear weapons, and the implied threat of
their potential, not actual use, acts as a defensive deterrent.
Leading
British newspapers, including The Guardian, The Independent, The
Mirror, and the Daily Mail, have paid much attention to Putin’s
claims on Russia’s readiness to use nuclear force if there had been
shown to be a threat to the Russian-speaking residents of Crimea.
The
New York Times and The Washington post also focused on this
particular statement by the Russian president.
“After
the revolution in Ukraine last year, President Vladimir V. Putin sent
military forces to secure Crimea and even weighed putting Russia’s
nuclear arsenal on alert because of his concerns about both anarchy
and Western intervention,” The New York Times said.
However,
the United States made similar claims in October 2014 when it said it
was ready to use nuclear weapons if North Korean forces crossed the
border into South Korea, an ally of Washington. Several years
earlier, the UK’s then-defense secretary Geoff Hoon said that the
United Kingdom was ready to use nuclear weapons against Iraq if they
ever used weapons of mass destruction against British troops.
Crimea
became a Russian region following a referendum held March 16, 2014,
in which over 96 percent of Crimean voters backed a move to leave
Ukraine and rejoin Russia. Crimea's reunification with Russia was
triggered by the February 2014 coup in Ukraine.
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