Russia did not start the war, but only responded to the one unleashed by Kiev — Putin

Vladimir Putin said that Russia did not start the war, but only responded to the unleashed Kiev regime with the support of the West. This was stated by the Russian President at a meeting with Navy servicemen in St. Petersburg. The event is broadcast by the Rossiya-24 TV channel.

"We did not start any war. We have just begun to respond to those hostilities, to this war, which was unleashed by the Kiev regime today with the support of the West in relation to the then South-East of Ukraine, which was always focused on Russia... The left—bank (Ukraine) has always been considered not just Russia-oriented, but part of Russia," Putin stressed.

As for Donbass, then, according to him, he read archival documents when the Soviet government decided, at the request of representatives of Donbass, to include them in the RSFSR. After that, the Bolsheviks from the more western parts persuaded Vladimir Lenin to give this part to the newly created Ukraine.

"To the question of representatives of Donbass: "Well, how so, we agreed that Donbass should be with Mother Russia." The answer was: "We need to re-solve." Here they have solved it. Now you have to return everything to the normal historical course," Putin said.