Putin Had Designs on Crimea Before Referendum

Sean Gallup/Getty Images(MOSCOW) — After Ukraine’s former president was deposed in late February 2014, Russia President Vladimir Putin set to work on ordering the annexation of Crimea weeks before its citizens voted overwhelmingly to join the Russian Federation.

Putin said last year that his decision to annex Crimea was made only after secret polls showed that more than 80 percent of Crimeans want to break free from Ukraine’s central government in Kiev.

During an interview on TV Monday, Putin said he called a meeting of his top Kremlin officials on Feb. 22, 2014 to plan a rescue of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych whose life appeared to be in danger after he was removed from office in a popular revolution.

However, it was at the conclusion of all-night talks that he told the gathering, “We are forced to begin the work to bring Crimea back into Russia.'”

Just days later, heavily armed men took over Crimea’s parliament and government buildings as Putin ordered the deployment of Russian troops to the border.

By March 16, Crimea held its referendum, which was not recognized by the West, to split from the rest of Ukraine and two days later, the territory was absorbed into Russia.

Since then, pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine have been engaged in an armed conflict with Ukraine military. Six thousand people have died in fighting over the past 11 months with hundreds of thousands of people displaced because of the violence.

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