Yahoo – AFP,
17 April 2014
Armed men gather beside armoured personnel carriers (APC) as they stand guard outside the regional state building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk, on April 16, 2014
Russia's
President Vladimir Putin gives his annual televised question-and-answer
session
in Moscow (AFP Photo/Alexei Nikolosky)
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Armed men gather beside armoured personnel carriers (APC) as they stand guard outside the regional state building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk, on April 16, 2014
Moscow
(AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused Ukraine's new
authorities of driving the country towards the abyss but said that dialogue was
the only way out of the intensifying crisis.
"Only
through dialogue, through democratic procedures and not with the use of armed
forces, tanks and planes can order be imposed in the country," Putin said
at the start of a major nationwide phone-in broadcast on Russian television.
"It is
very important today to think about how to get out of this situation and offer
people a genuine dialogue and not one just for show," added Putin, saying
he believed the talks opening Thursday in Geneva between top diplomats on the
crisis were "extremely important".
He accused
the Ukrainian authorities who took over after the fall of president Viktor
Yanukovych of driving the country to the abyss.
"I
hope that they manage to understand towards what abyss the Kiev authorities are
going, dragging with them the whole country," said Putin.
Putin
slammed the Kiev government for launching a military operation against
separatist activists who have seized official buildings across southeast
Ukraine.
"This
is one more serious crime by the current Kiev authorities," he said.
He also
said it was "nonsense" to claim Russian forces were operating in the
east of Ukraine, saying those involved in protest actions were "all local
citizens".
"That
is all nonsense," he said.
"In
the east of Ukraine there are no Russian units. There are no special forces, no
instructors. These are are local citizens," he said, adding this was
proved by the fact the activists had "taken off their masks".
"I
have told our Western partners that they (the activists) are going nowhere.
They are the masters of this land. And they must be spoken to."
But Putin
also explicitly acknowledged that Russian troops had operated in Crimea during
and before the referendum that led to its annexation by Moscow from Ukraine.
Previously he denied the soldiers were Russian, saying anyone could have bought
military uniforms in a store.
"Our
goal was to ensure the conditions for a free vote," Putin said, explaining
who were the soldiers in uniforms without insignia who appeared in Crimea in
late February.
"Behind
the local defence forces were our soldiers. They acted correctly, but
decisively and professionally," he said. "We had to protect people
from possible use of weapons" on Ukrainian military bases.
Edward
Snowden appears via video for Putin press conference. Screengrab
from
Russia Today/YouTube
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