Moscow: President Vladimir Putin said Russian forces had been active in Crimea in order to support local defence forces, the first time he has admitted deployment of Russian troops on the Black Sea peninsula.
“We had to take unavoidable steps so that events did not develop as they are currently developing in southeast Ukraine,” Mr Putin said in a televised call-in with the nation.
“Of course our troops stood behind Crimea’s self-defence forces,” he added. Also, the Russian President left the door open to intervening in Ukraine on Thursday in a thinly-veiled threat that coincided with the opening of crunch Geneva talks on the escalating crisis.
Warning that the former Soviet republic was plunging into the “abyss”, Mr Putin said he hoped not to have to use his “right” to send Russian troops into Ukraine, just hours after three pro-Moscow separatists were killed.
