Crimea May Have Faced Armed Conflict With Kiev - Russian Defense Minister
15:41 15.03.2015(updated 17:45 15.03.2015)
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu commented on Russia's reunification with Crimea in the documentary 'Crimea. Way Back Home.'
VLADIVOSTOK (Sputnik) – Crimea could have found itself in a situation that is currently unfolding in southeastern Ukraine, where Kiev forces have been fighting independence supporters for almost a year, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a documentary on Crimea's reunification with Russia.
'The most important thing is that [Kiev] forces were pulled there, where they were assumed to start exactly what is happening now in southeastern Ukraine,' Shoigu said in 'Crimea. Way Back Home' on Rossiya-1 TV channel Sunday.
On March 16 2014, Crimea voted in a referendum to join Russia, which led a number of Western nations to hand down a series of sanctions targeting first certain individuals and, subsequently, whole sectors of Russia's economy.
Meanwhile, following the appointment of new pro-Western and increasingly nationalist leadership in Kiev as result of a coup in February 2014, Ukrainian government launched a military operation against southeast Ukraine's independence supporters that had not recognized its legitimacy on April 15.
© Sputnik
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