Crimean speech of Vladimir Putin

Crimean speech of President Vladimir Putin refers to a speech by the Russian president Vladimir Putin's on March 18, 2014 to both chambers of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in connection with the request for admission by the Crimean parliament of the republic in the Russian Federation. He spoke in the St. George Hall of the Kremlin.

In the same place, Putin delivered another speech on December 4, 2014 that also picked out the Crimea as a central theme.

Overview

In the beginning of his speech, Putin said that a referendum was held in full compliance with democratic procedures and rules of international law, and that the numbers support the entry of Crimea in Russia were very convincing.

Putin recalled the ancient Chersonesos where Prince Vladimir was baptized, on the graves of Russian soldiers on Sevastopol — the home of the Black Sea Fleet. Noted that the Crimean Tatars suffered cruel injustice in Soviet times, together with the other peoples, including the Russian people. After the Crimean Tatars have returned to their land, new solutions for a complete rehabilitation of the Crimean Tatar people are required. He proposed three equal official languages for Crimea - Russian, Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar.

The President stressed that in the heart of the Crimean people, Crimea has always been an integral part of Russia. Bolsheviks included a significant amount of the historical Russian southern land into the Ukrainian SSR without taking into account the national composition of its population. Further, in 1954, the Crimea and Sevastopol in the Ukrainian SSR passed. This decision was taken in violation of constitutional norms, behind the scenes, in a totalitarian state residents of Crimea and Sevastopol nothing asked. That decision was seen as a formality, since the territory transferred within the same country.

Putin condemned the West’s reaction to the events in the Crimea and sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian politicians. Russian President expressed gratitude to the people of China, praised the restraint of India. Appealed to the U.S. freedom-loving people, stressing that freedom of the Crimean population is the same value. Referring to the fact that not all allies sympathized with Germany in 1989, it merged with the German Democratic Republic, Putin said that while the USSR supported the Germans sincere desire for national unity. The President expressed confidence that German citizens support the aspirations of the Russian world to restore the unity of 'Crimea will remain Russian and Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar. It will be home to the representatives of all the peoples living there. But he will never Bandera'.

Putin assured that Russia will not seek confrontation with the West and the East, and stressed that Russia and Ukraine — are one people. Ukraine will continue to live millions of Russian citizens, which means that Russia will always defend their interests.

Putin’s speech lasted 45 minutes. During the speech, Putin used the term "natsional-predateli" (“national-traitors”) which is a calque from the German term Nationalverräter. The refusal to accept the new Ukrainian government he explained in the unlawful events on Euromaidan: Groups "wanted to seize power and would stop short of nothing. They resorted to terror, murder and pogroms. Nationalists, neo-Nazis, Russophobes and anti-Semites executed this coup. They continue to set the tone in Ukraine to this day." Nevertheless, he expressed appreciation to those protesting peacefully against corruption, inefficient state management and poverty.

The audience has been applauding Putin for over 5 minutes at the beginning of the speech and at least 2–3 minutes thereafter. Many were shedding tears.

Reactions

Glenn Kessler from The Washington Post reported that several of Putin's statements were "dubious and false".

UK government's response to points made by President Putin lists 7 points, among them the crimean "referendum", the accusation of terror, pogrom and murder as well as the legal status of the Ukrainian government; " (...) Parliament (...) remained unchanged and was elected in a free vote of the people in Ukraine. The interim government was approved by an overwhelming majority in a free vote in the Ukrainian Parliament, including representatives of Yanukovych’s Party of the Regions."

Hillary Clinton has compared events in Crimea to the Czech Crisis of 1938 and has directly compared Russia’s Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler. Other politicians and journalists have done the same and have compared Crimean speech of Vladimir Putin to Hitler's speech.

Barack Obama gave a speech on March 26, 2014 to counter many of the arguments made by Putin. Obama stated that the historical relations between Ukraine and Russia did not give Russia the right to dictate Ukraine’s future. He also denied Putin’s claim that the Russian minority in Ukraine was in danger and argued that the Russians actions against Ukraine were undemocratic and constituted brute force.

Russian historian Andrey Piontkovsky compared the speech to Hitler's speech on Sudetenland from 1939 as using "the same arguments and vision of history". According to him, this speech played key role in starting the war in Donbass.

Gallery

• Play media

  Address by President of the Russian Federation

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  Address by President of the Russian Federation

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  Sergey Naryshkin, Dmitry Medvedev, Vladimir Konstantinov, Sergey Aksyonov, Aleksei Chalyi and Valentina Matviyenko

See also

• Valdai speech of Vladimir Putin (24 October 2014 in Sochi)
• History of Crimea#Modern history
• Foreign policy of Vladimir Putin
• Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation