Putin reveals plan to annex Crimea in TV documentary
March 16, 2015
Russian President Vladimir Putin has admitted for the first time that the plan to annex Crimea was ordered weeks before the referendum on self-determination. Mr Putin said in a documentary called Crimea: The Road to Motherland, that was shown Sunday night on state-run TV channel Rossiya-1, that he had ordered work on “returning Crimea” to begin at an all-night meeting on 22 February. The meeting was called to plan the rescue of Ukraine’s deposed president, Viktor Yanukovych.
Crimea celebrates today the first anniversary of the referendum which resulted in the annexation of the territory by Russia.