President Vladimir Putin has said he
was ready to put Russia's nuclear weapons on standby during tensions
over the crisis in Ukraine and Crimea.
In comments in a
documentary aired on state TV on Sunday, Mr Putin said the life of
ex-Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych had been in danger.
He also said Russians in Crimea were in danger before Russia annexed it.
In a previously released clip from the film, he said he ordered the annexation weeks before a referendum was held.
Crimea
was formally absorbed into Russia on 18 March, to international
condemnation, after unidentified gunmen took over the peninsula.
Speaking
on the documentary - called The Path To The Motherland - Mr Putin said:
"We never thought about severing Crimea from Ukraine until the moment
that these events began, the government overthrow".
On putting Russia's nuclear weapons into a state of combat readiness, 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," he added.
He said he used a "closed opinion poll" of Crimeans to judge whether
they wanted to remain in Ukraine and found that "75% of the general
population desired to join Russia". No details of how the survey was
conducted were given by Mr Putin.
Russia initially denied that
soldiers who appeared in Crimea without military insignia on their
fatigues - dubbed the "little green men" - were Russian.
But Mr Putin subsequently admitted deploying troops on the peninsula to "stand behind Crimea's self-defence forces".
The
formal annexation of Crimea sparked unrest in eastern Ukraine in April,
when pro-Russian protesters occupied government buildings in Donetsk,
Luhansk and Kharkiv demanding independence.
A month later, pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk declared independence from Ukraine after unrecognised referendums.
Ukraine
responded by launching an "anti-terrorist operation" against them and
the region became engulfed in a conflict which has cost at least 6,000
lives, according to the UN.
Timeline: How Crimea was annexed
22 February, former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych flees Kiev after violent protests
23 February, Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to rescue Mr Yanukovych and annexe Crimea
27 February, pro-Russian gunmen seize Crimea's parliament and other key buildings
28 February, unidentified soldiers in combat fatigues occupy two airports in Crimea
1 March, Russian parliament approves Mr Putin's request to use force in Ukraine
16 March, 97% of voters in Crimea agree to join Russia
18 March, Mr Putin signs a bill absorbing Crimea into the Russian Federation
The
Ukrainian government, Western leaders and Nato say there is clear
evidence that Russia is helping the separatists with heavy weapons and
soldiers. Independent experts echo that accusation.
Moscow denies it, insisting that any Russians serving with the rebels are "volunteers".
'Good deed'
Full
details of Mr Yanukovych's escape from Ukraine are unclear although Mr
Putin spoke of Russian efforts to evacuate him and threats against his
life.
"For us it became clear and we received information that
there were plans not only for his capture, but, preferably for those who
carried out the coup, also for his physical elimination," Mr Putin says
in the film.
He said preparations to extract Mr Yanukovych were
made by land, sea and air, saying "heavy machine guns" were placed in
Donetsk "so as not to waste time talking".
Russia's Interfax news
agency quoted Mr Putin as saying that saving the life of Ukraine's
former leader and his family was a "good deed".
The documentary was made by Andrei Kondrashov, a journalist with state-run channel Rossiya-1.
Its airing comes amid speculation over Mr Putin's whereabouts with the Russian leader having not been seen in public since 5 March.
The Kremlin has denied rumours that the president might be sick or even
dead and says Mr Putin will meet his Kyrgyz counterpart, Almazbek
Atambayev, on Monday.
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