Simferopol, Ukraine (CNN) - Russia is not considering trying to make Crimea a part of Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday. Only people who live in Crimea can determine their future, he said.
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Putin said there was no need for the use of the military so far, and any use of military force would be the last resort.
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Ordered back
Earlier Tuesday, about 150,000 Russian troops taking part in military exercises near the Ukrainian border were ordered back to their bases, but thousands of others remain in control of much of Crimea.
Putin ordered the troops' return after six days of snap exercises at Ukraine's doorstep. He said the exercises, which began Wednesday, were long planned and had nothing to do with events in Ukraine.
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"Firstly, we have a request of the legitimate President Yanukovych to protect the welfare of the local and anti-Semites in parts of Ukraine, including Kiev," Putin said.
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Earlier Tuesday, about 150,000 Russian troops taking part in military exercises near the Ukrainian border were ordered back to their bases, but thousands of others remain in control of much of Crimea.
Putin ordered the troops' return after six days of snap exercises at Ukraine's doorstep. He said the exercises, which began Wednesday, were long planned and had nothing to do with events in Ukraine.
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"Firstly, we have a request of the legitimate President Yanukovych to protect the welfare of the local and anti-Semites in parts of Ukraine, including Kiev," Putin said.
"Of course people wanted change," Putin said of the protests in Kiev's Independence Square. "But [people] cannot impose illegal change ...you need to use only constitutional means."-Fox News.
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"Why did they need to take unconstitutional steps and bring the country into the chaos that now reigns there?" Putin asked Tuesday,according to The Guardian
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There's Putin's Nazis/anti-Semites statement and there were reports earlier that these military exercises were pre-planned. All this is good for the overall situation in Ukraine. It is bad for the American beliefs on what is happening there. Has Official America overreacted here? Is it going to have to "walk back" some, all, of its rhetoric the last couple weeks?
