Follow
Details of how Putin planned the annexation of Crimea have been released. During the trailer for the “Homewards Bound” documentary, produced by the Rossiya 1 TV channel, Russian President gave details regarding how he decided on reincluding Crimea within Russian borders.
It happened during a secret meeting on February 22, the day Ukraine’s pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych absconded from Kiev after months of anti-government protests. On that day, protesters managed to breach into the most important governmental buildings and take control over them. This was also a few weeks before Crimea held a “self-determination referendum”. Security service officials participated in the assembly, to discuss how to save Yanukovych and bring him to Russia.
In the trailer, the Russian President explained:
“I invited the leaders of our special services and the defense ministry to the Kremlin and set them the task of saving the life of the president of Ukraine otherwise they were going to destroy him.”
After Yanukovych fled from Kiev, the Ukrainian parliament annulled his powers and a new government was established.
Putin added that the meeting lasted until 7 a.m. the next day. Before its end, Putin told all the participants that they needed to “begin the work to bring Crimea back into Russia”.
The trailer shows Putin discussing various plans on how to help Yanukovych escape from Donetsk, a city in the eastern part of Ukraine where he had run away to.
He continued by saying that he ordered for heavy artillery to be positioned near that area, “so as not to waste time talking”. It seems like the Russian army was “prepared to salvage him straight from Donetsk, by land, by sea, or by air.” This is the second time Putin offers to help Yanukovych escape.
Only a few days after the meeting, on Feb. 27, in Crimean airports “unidentified military personnel” started hovering around the region. Russian flags appeared over government building. Russia was accused of having sent armies in Crimea but Kremlin denied these allegations until Putin declared that, indeed, the military officers spotted around those airports were Russian.
Later that year, on March 16, a referendum regarding the region’s self-determination was held in Crimea. A large number of people voted for Crimea to stop being a Ukrainian territory and become part of Russia.
There is still no official date regarding the documentary’s cinematic debut.
Image Source: RT
