Putin defends annexing Crimea with defiant swipe at the West

Russian president Vladimir Putin has defended his country’s move to annex Crimea, saying that the rights of ethnic Russians have been abused by the Ukrainian government.

In a televised address to the nation, he said Crimea’s vote on Sunday to join Russia is in line with international law, reflecting its right for self-determination.

He pointed at the example of Kosovo’s independence bid, supported by the West, and said that Crimea’s secession from Ukraine repeats Ukraine’s own secession from the Soviet Union in 1991.

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He denied Western accusations that Russia invaded Crimea prior to the referendum, saying Russian troops were sent there in line with a treaty with Ukraine that allows Russia to have up to 25,000 troops at its Black Sea Fleet base in Crimea.

Mr Putin said Crimea should be part of Russia but added that Russia does not want to move to other regions of Ukraine, saying “we don’t want division of Ukraine”.

The Russian leader said his country had to respond to what he described as a Western plot to take Ukraine into its sphere of influence. He said protests that drove out former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych were encouraged by the West.

“If you push a spring too hard, at some point it will spring back,” he said, addressing the West. “You always need to remember this.”

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Mr Putin also argued that today’s Ukraine included “regions of Russia’s historic south” and was created on a whim by the Bolsheviks – a clear warning to both the new Ukrainian government in Kiev and to the West to respect Russia’s interests.

Mr Putin accused the West of cheating Russia and ignoring its interests in the years that followed the 1991 Soviet collapse.

“They have constantly tried to drive us into a corner for our independent stance, for defending it, for calling things their proper names and not being hypocritical,” he said.

“But there are limits. And in the case of Ukraine, our Western partners have crossed a line. They behaved rudely, irresponsibly and unprofessionally.”

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Crimea was part of Russia from the 18th century until Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred it to Ukraine in 1954.

A Ukrainian military spokesman said a serviceman was killed and another injured when a base in Crimea was stormed by armed men. Vladislav Seleznev, a spokesman for the Ukrainian armed forces in Crimea, said o a truck bearing a Russian flag was used in the operation.

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