Crimean Annexation Quotes

Our task was not to conduct a full-fledged military operation there [in Crimea], but it was to ensure people's safety and security and a comfortable environment to express their will. We did that. But it would not have been possible without the Crimeans' own strong resolution.

One of the problems in the Ukrainian crisis is that very few Westerners know their history, or if they know it, what they learn is what we call the Russian version of history.

There is only one conflict in Ukraine today and it is between the regime and the people.

The most obvious risk was that the Russian speaking population was threatened and that the threats were absolutely specific and tangible. This is what made Crimean residents, the people who live there, think about their future and ask Russia for help. This is what guided our decision.

Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin, has managed to retain high approval ratings despite his slumping economy by seizing Crimea from Ukraine and participating in the Syrian war that is destabilizing the Mideast and, increasingly, Europe and the West.

Our policy on the annexation of Crimea, which we consider illegal, will stay.

If 85 percent of Russians support the annexation of Crimea and the aggression against Ukraine, that is a very bad sign. The post-Soviet legacy is a heavy burden: Most Russians want to have the empire back. The only way it is possible to make that happen is to seize foreign territories.

What happened in Ukraine? The coup d'état in Ukraine has led to a civil war, because, yes, let's say, many Ukrainians no longer trusted President Yanukovych. However, they should have legitimately come to the polls and voted for another head of state instead of staging a coup d'état. And after the coup d'état took place, someone supported it, someone was satisfied with it, while others were not. And those who did not like it were treated from the position of force. And that led to a civil war.

As I've said many times, Yanukovych was a pro-Western, not pro-Putin, president.

In Maidan Square right now, you see thousands of Ukrainians protesting the Russian occupation of Crimea. So this is a Russian protest by Ukrainians who want their sovereignty. They want their freedom and they're protesting what Russia did in Crimea.

You know what the Russians are saying is that they have an historic relationship with - with Crimea, and they're saying the Crimean legislature has voted now to have a referendum, and they're saying what the government in Kiev did was illegal.