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VLADIVOSTOK, March 15. /TASS/. Russia did not use a parliamentary mandate to deploy its forces in Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a documentary "Crimea. The Path to the Motherland" that was broadcasted by Russia’s television channel Rossiya 1 on Sunday.
"There was no need to use the Federation Council (upper parliament house) mandate to deploy our troops in Ukraine. Because under a relevant international treaty we had the right to have 20,000 troops at our military base in Crimea. Even slightly more. Even having reinforced our base we did not have 20,000 servicemen there."
"Strictly speaking, we did not violate anything since our contingent at the base in Crimea was within the agreed level. And we deployed no additional contingents," he said.