Putin: 'Nonsense - no Russian troops, special services in east Ukraine'
"All the people that are in the eastern Ukraine are local residents, and the main proof is that they've taken their masks off - literally. It's their home, and they have nowhere to leave to," Putin stressed.
President also criticized the coup-imposed Kiev government's actions.
“Instead of recognizing that something wrong is happening in the Ukrainian state and making an attempt to have dialogue, they started to threaten the people with force and went as far as moving their tanks and planes on to the civilian population. It’s another very serious crime by the Kiev leaders,” Putin said.
The Russian president said the Kiev government should negotiate with those people, not with their henchmen.
When asked who the people wearing green uniforms that were noticed in Crimea were, Putin answered that those were self-defense squads.
However, during the referendum itself, there were concerns that it could be disrupted, so there were Russian troops behind the self-defense squads to prevent the escalation of the situation and any provocations, president added.
President Putin is holding his annual Q&A session with the Russian people, amid record approval ratings.
The Q&A session comes as 71 percent Russians say they trust Putin completely or almost completely.
Residents of Moscow, the Volga Region and northwestern Russia have been the most active in sending in questions so far.
The majority of questions come from pensioners. The second place is occupied by people from 35 to 55 years old. Some of those who called just said they wanted to support the president and his position on Ukraine, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.
Last year, the Q&A session with the President lasted for almost five hours
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