The End Is Much Closer Than People Realize (Revelation 16)

Russia was ready for nuclear alert over Crimea, Putin says in documentary

Putin Threatens Nuclear War

MOSCOW — Reuters

Published Sunday, Mar. 15 2015, 9:28 PM EDT

Moscow was ready to put its nuclear forces on alert to ensure Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine last year, President Vladimir Putin said in a pre-recorded documentary aired on Sunday.

Mr. Putin also expanded on a previous admission that the well-armed forces in unmarked uniforms who took control of Ukrainian military facilities in Crimea were Russian soldiers.

Mr. Putin also said that Russia had saved the life of Ukraine’s former pro-Moscow president, Viktor Yanukovich, who he said had been in danger after “revolutionaries” seized power following weeks of violent street protests in Kiev last year.

“For us it became clear and we received information that there were plans not only for his capture, but, preferably for those who carried out the coup, but also for his physical elimination. As one famous historical figure said: ‘No person, no problem,’” Mr. Putin said.

Protests over Mr. Yanukovich’s decision to back away from a trade agreement with the European Union in favour of closer ties with Moscow forced him from power in February last year. Mr. Yanukovich’s overthrow ultimately prompted Russia to seize and annex the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.

“Of course it wasn’t immediately understandable [what the reaction would be to Crimea’s annexation],” Mr. Putin said. “Therefore, in the first stages, I had to orient our armed forces. Not just orient, but give direct orders.”

When asked if he had been ready to put Russia’s nuclear forces on alert, he said: “We were ready to do it.”

Russia initially denied that the unmarked forces who took control in Crimea were Russian, but Mr. Putin later admitted they were. In the Sunday documentary, he said he ordered the defence ministry to deploy military intelligence special forces, marines and paratroopers “under the cover of strengthening the protection of our military facilities.” (Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is based in Crimea; it retained the bases after the collapse of the Soviet Union under an agreement with Ukraine.)

Mr. Putin claimed in the documentary that the number of Russian forces in Crimea never exceeded the 20,000 authorized under the agreement on basing the Black Sea Fleet there.

The documentary comes as speculation swirls about Mr. Putin’s 10-day absence from public view. He has not been seen in public or on live television since March 5, prompting a wave of savage mockery across the Internet, despite official insistence that it was business as usual in the Kremlin. On Monday, he will meet with the president of Kyrgyzstan in an event covered by the news media, which would be his first appearance before journalists since March 5.

The independent news broadcaster Dozhd said on Sunday the Kremlin had declined to comment on its report that Mr. Putin had not been in Moscow but in Novgorod province, at his Lake Valdai residence, for the past several days. An Austrian newspaper reported that Mr. Putin was suffering from back problems and that a Viennese orthopedic expert had travelled to Russia to treat him.

The film, shown across Russia ahead of the first anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, documented the seizure of the peninsula and provided details of Mr. Yanukovich’s last hours in Ukraine before he fled to Rostov-on-Don, in southern Russia.

Mr. Putin said Mr. Yanukovich had called on Feb. 21 last year to lay out plans to leave the capital, where violent street protests had been raging for weeks.

“I told him my point of view that, in such a situation, it’s best not to leave the capital,” said Mr. Putin.

From Kiev, Mr. Yanukovich travelled to Kharkiv, then on to Donetsk, where he called Mr. Putin to ask for help.

Mr. Putin suggested meeting him personally in Rostov-on-Don, but Mr. Yanukovich’s plane was not given permission to leave. He then travelled to Crimea, from where he was spirited to Russia.