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US spend up to $5 billion to overthrow Viktor Yanukovych - Putin

According to Vladimir Putin, the outcome of any actions aimed at overthrowing the legitimate government "is very negative"

MOSCOW, September 29. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the United States spent up to $5 billion to overthrow former Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych.

"They [the United States] openly admit to providing assistance, training people and spending a specific amount of money on it," Putin told US journalist Charlie Rose in an interview with CBS and PBS. "They are naming large sums of money: up to $5 billion; we are talking about billions of dollars here. This is why it is no longer a secret; no one is trying to argue about that."

According to Vladimir Putin, the outcome of any actions aimed at overthrowing the legitimate government "is very negative".

"Libya's state is disintegrated, Iraq's territory is flooded with terrorists, it looks like the scenario will be the same for Syria, and you know what the situation is in Afghanistan," Putin added.

The president recalled that "the coup d'etat in Ukraine has led to a civil war."

"Let's say, many Ukrainians no longer trusted President Yanukovych," Putin said. "However, they should have legitimately come to the polls and voted for another head of state instead of staging a coup d'etat. And after the coup d'etat took place, someone supported it, someone was satisfied with it, while others were not. And those who did not like it were treated from the position of force. And that led to a civil war."

The Russian leader noted that "both Russia and other international actors, including those who are more actively engaged in the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis (that is the Federal Republic of Germany and France, the so-called Normandy Quartet, certainly, with close involvement of the United States, and we have intensified our dialogue on this issue), we should all be committed to the full and unconditional implementation of the agreements that were achieved in Minsk."

"The Minsk Agreements have to be implemented," Putin said.