Putin accuses Poland of 'training' Ukrainian revolutionaries
22:49
Speaking in public for the first time since Russian military forces took over the Crimean region last weekend, President Vladimir Putin said his country would not launch military operations in the rest of Ukraine for now but would “reserve that option.”
When asked whether the so-called “self-defense” forces in the Crimea who had blocked Ukrainian soldiers were from Russia, Putin insisted they were local volunteers from the Crimea and not Russians.
Pressed on why then they seemed so well-trained, Putin replied “My dear friend, look how well-trained the people who led the [anti-Yanukovych] attacks in Kiev were. It's obvious knowledge they were trained in Lithuania, Poland and in Ukraine. They were prepared by instructors, trained for a long time.”
“Everything they did was professional, like in the Russian special forces,” he added. Putin also insisted that the deposed Viktor Yanukovych remained the “only legal president of Ukraine.” The Russian president however, said he had instructed his government officials to “re-open channels of cooperation with the new Ukranian authorities.”
