ladimir Putin has said he was “ready” to place Russia’s nuclear forces on alert as he sought to annex the Crimean peninsula last year.
Speaking during a documentary aired on Russian state TV, the Russian President said he was prepared to face “the worst possible turn of events” in the Crimea.
The documentary, titled Homeward Bound, was aired to mark a year since the takeover of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine.
It featured interviews with Mr Putin and a reconstruction of events which presents the Russian leader as the saviour of Crimea.
Asked whether he was ready to put Russia’s nuclear forces on alert, Mr Putin said: “We were ready to do this.”
He said during negotiations with foreign leaders he explained that “this (Crimea) is our historical territory and Russian people live there… and we cannot abandon them”.
“It was a frank and open position. And that is why I think no one was in the mood to start a world war,” he added.
The annexation of the Crimean peninsula was seen by the West as an illegal occupation.
Mr Putin said in the documentary that after Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych fled Kiev in the face of a pro-Western revolution, he organised a secret poll to test the opinions of the Crimean population.
“But it was not us who carried out the coup d’etat,” Mr Putin said.
“This was done by nationalists and people with extreme beliefs.”…. see more
source: skynews
Tags: Crimea, Nuclear Alert, Politics, Putin
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.