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Russia to never agree to forget about 2014 bloody state coup in Ukraine — Putin

Vladimir Putin also recalled the developments in Crimea

ST. PETERSBURG, June 17. /TASS/. Russia will never agree to forget about the bloody state coup in Ukraine in 2014 as it is the root of today’s problems, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.

Addressing a plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, the president touched upon the topic of the state coup in Ukraine in 2014. "Why did they stage a state coup in Ukraine in 2014? It was what the whole thing started from: three foreign ministers from three European countries - Germany, France, and Poland - came [to Kiev] as guarantors of agreements between the then President [Viktor] Yanukovich and the opposition. [US] President [Barack] Obama called me to say: let us do something to calm down the situation there. ‘Ok.’ And then, a state coup was staged a day later," Putin recalled.

"When you ask why? The [Ukrainian] opposition could have come to power democratically - take part in elections and win. No, they staged a state coup, a bloody one, instead. This was what the whole thing started with," he said.

"Now, they are saying: let us forget about it. No. We will not. Because this was the original cause. And it was in the people who backed this coup," he stressed, adding that the guarantors of the peace process should have insisted on elections back then. "But they opted to hand out cakes on squares to support the coup. What for?" he went on to say.

He also recalled the developments in Crimea. "They were reluctant to respect the choice of Crimea’s residents. And the first sanctions against Russia were imposed. Large-scale military operations were held in Donbass some three times. They had been shooting at people for eight years and everyone was turning a blind eye on that. Kiev’s authorities refused to implement the Minsk agreements and this fact was also ignored. And it has led to the current situation. This was the reason," he added.

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Ukraine crisis Vladimir Putin

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