“There can only be one assessment of what happened in Kiev and Ukraine as a whole — this was an anti-constitutional takeover and armed seizure of power,” he added.
Putin said that deposed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych had no political future but asserted he was legally still head of state.
“I think that he has no political future. And I told him this,” Putin said in comments broadcast on state television, adding that Russia had offered sanctuary to Yanukovych for humanitarian reasons. He said earlier that Yanukovych was, however, still the “sole legitimate president of Ukraine”.
‘No Russian forces operating in Crimea’
Putin denied that Russian forces were operating in Crimea, saying that only “local forces of self-defence” were surrounding Ukrainian military bases in the region.
05.03.2014
SOURCE: MEDIA