Putin admits Russian troops supported Crimean self-defence

Russian soldiers helped organize the Crimean referendum, Vladimir Putin said: “They guaranteed a free expression of the Crimeans’ will. It was needed to avoid the scenario of South-East Ukraine. Russian soldiers backed up the Crimean self-defence forces; it could not be done in any other way. There were over 20 thousand soldiers, 38 complexes SPA-300, stocks of arms and ammunition. It was necessary to prevent people from the very possibility of using those weapons against civilians.”

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