Browse content similar to 18/03/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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what happened in Yugoslavia in 1989. It was hard to believe and I | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
couldn't believe my eyes but in the end of this century... ? | :00:00. | :00:09. | |
STUDIO: This is BBC World News. I want to welcome viewers around the | :00:10. | :00:12. | |
world and here in the UK. This is special coverage from Moscow of an | :00:13. | :00:16. | |
address by President Putin on Crimea. Very much defending Russia's | :00:17. | :00:21. | |
actions over the weekend. Welcoming Crimean members to Moscow. Let's | :00:22. | :00:22. | |
continue to listen. TRANSLATION: It was clear the people | :00:23. | :00:46. | |
who live in those countries were tired of the lack of perspective | :00:47. | :00:50. | |
Countries were imposed with standards that had nothing to do | :00:51. | :00:55. | |
with their way of life, culture and traditions. As a result. Instead of | :00:56. | :01:02. | |
democracy and freedom they saw violence, chaos and a string of | :01:03. | :01:07. | |
coups. Arab Spring was replaced by Arab winter. A similar scenario was | :01:08. | :01:13. | |
realised in ewe crane when n 2004, to push a candidate to re-election | :01:14. | :01:21. | |
they organise organised the so-called third round of election | :01:22. | :01:24. | |
that was not pre-determined by the law. This was a mock constitution | :01:25. | :01:29. | |
and now they use the army of militants. They understand what is | :01:30. | :01:33. | |
happening. They understand these actions were aimed against Ukraine | :01:34. | :01:39. | |
sia Russia. This was at a time when Russia was sincerely aiming towards | :01:40. | :01:42. | |
the dialogue with our colleagues in the West. We were offering | :01:43. | :01:47. | |
cooperation on all major issues. We want to strengthen the level of | :01:48. | :01:52. | |
trust. We want our relations to be equal, open and honest. But they did | :01:53. | :02:03. | |
not see any steps in our direction. Time and again we were deceived, | :02:04. | :02:08. | |
decisions were made behind our backs. The same happened with the | :02:09. | :02:16. | |
expansion to the east. The deployment of military structures on | :02:17. | :02:20. | |
our boulders and we were told this is not our concern. It's easy to say | :02:21. | :02:26. | |
it's not our concern. The same with the deployment of missile system in | :02:27. | :02:40. | |
spite of all our concerns. The same with the access to international | :02:41. | :02:43. | |
laws. Today we are threatened with sanctions, but even now there are a | :02:44. | :02:48. | |
number of limitations significant our economy. In the time of Cold | :02:49. | :02:57. | |
War, the USA and other countries prohibited the sale to the USSR | :02:58. | :03:05. | |
along list of equipment. Now they've been formally eliminated, but in | :03:06. | :03:10. | |
fact many bands are still in action. In short, we have all the reasons to | :03:11. | :03:17. | |
believe that the policy of detainment of Russia that was | :03:18. | :03:22. | |
happening in the 1890s and 20th century is still going on. We are | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
driven into a corner for our independent position, for our | :03:27. | :03:34. | |
fighting, for our calling things as they are. I'm not being | :03:35. | :03:38. | |
hypocritical. There's a limit to everything. Everything has its | :03:39. | :03:45. | |
limits and in the case of Ukraine, our western partners have broken | :03:46. | :03:50. | |
that border, they have overreached the limit. They behaved | :03:51. | :03:53. | |
irresponsibly and they knew perfectly well... That in Ukraine | :03:54. | :04:03. | |
and the Crimea there are millions of Russian people. How they could have | :04:04. | :04:11. | |
lost the political sense not to foresee the consequences of their | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
actions. Russia was on the brink and could not step back any more. If you | :04:16. | :04:21. | |
press the spring, it will release at some point. We should stop his, we | :04:22. | :04:28. | |
should reject the rhetoric of Cold War and we should accept the obvious | :04:29. | :04:34. | |
thing. Russia is an independent participant of international law. | :04:35. | :04:50. | |
We are grateful to all those who understood our steps in Crimea. We | :04:51. | :05:05. | |
are grateful to the people of China, whose leadership sees the situation | :05:06. | :05:16. | |
in Ukraine and Crimea without his derricks. Dash-macro hysterics. | :05:17. | :05:25. | |
Today I want to address myself to the people of the United States, the | :05:26. | :05:31. | |
people who, since the founding of this state, since the declaration of | :05:32. | :05:35. | |
Independence, are proud that freedom is overall. Isn't the striving of | :05:36. | :05:45. | |
the people of career not the same value? Please understand us. | :05:46. | :05:50. | |
Dash-macro Crimea. I trust we will be understood by Europeans. In the | :05:51. | :05:59. | |
course of political consultations over the reunion and of Germany at a | :06:00. | :06:03. | |
very high level, representatives of not every country that were then | :06:04. | :06:11. | |
allies of Germany were supporting the idea of reunification. Our | :06:12. | :06:18. | |
country, on the contrary, was immediately supported the strive of | :06:19. | :06:25. | |
German people for reunification. I'm confident you have not forgotten | :06:26. | :06:30. | |
that and I count the people of Germany will also support the | :06:31. | :06:37. | |
Russian world to its reunification. I address myself to the people of | :06:38. | :06:54. | |
Ukraine. I sincerely want you to understand this. In no way do we | :06:55. | :07:00. | |
want to damage you, insult your national feelings. We have always | :07:01. | :07:05. | |
respected the territorial integrity of the Ukrainian state, unlike those | :07:06. | :07:13. | |
others. They talk about great Ukraine, but it was they who did | :07:14. | :07:19. | |
everything to split the country. The civil confrontation in Ukraine today | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
is entirely their responsibility. I want you to hear me, my dear | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
friends. Don't trust those who frighten you with Russia, those who | :07:31. | :07:38. | |
say Crimea... We don't want a split Ukraine. Crimea was and will remain | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
both Russian and Ukrainian. I will repeat, as it has been for | :07:44. | :08:02. | |
centuries, it will be home for all the ethnic groups who live there, | :08:03. | :08:09. | |
but it will never be a region of Bandera ass. | :08:10. | :08:23. | |
APPLAUSE Crimea is our common asset and the | :08:24. | :08:35. | |
most important factor of stability in the region. This is a strategic | :08:36. | :08:41. | |
territory that should be under strong and stable sovereignty. It | :08:42. | :08:48. | |
can be only Russian today. Otherwise, dear friends, and I'm | :08:49. | :09:15. | |
addressing myself to Ukrainians and Russians, Russians and Ukrainians, | :09:16. | :09:24. | |
we could lose Crimea altogether and not that far-away. Please think | :09:25. | :09:34. | |
about this. I want to remind you... The city of Russian military glory | :09:35. | :09:41. | |
will be the base for NATO, maybe. There will be a threat to the entire | :09:42. | :09:47. | |
south of Russia. A very concrete threat. That's what would have | :09:48. | :09:57. | |
happened if not for the choice of Crimea and is and I want to thank | :09:58. | :09:58. | |
them for this. We are not against cooperation with | :09:59. | :10:16. | |
NATO. We are against a military alliance. NATO remains a military | :10:17. | :10:21. | |
organisation. We are against a military organisation being next to | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
our border, our historic territories. I can't imagine that | :10:27. | :10:38. | |
they are going to Sevastopol to visit NATO seamen. It would be | :10:39. | :10:39. | |
better if they came I will tell you straightaway, we are | :10:40. | :10:59. | |
of course deeply concerned with what's happening in Ukraine. People | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
are suffering, they don't know how to live there and our concern is | :11:04. | :11:06. | |
understandable. We are not just neighbours, we are, as I said many | :11:07. | :11:15. | |
times, one nation. Kiev is the mother of Russian cities. Old Russia | :11:16. | :11:25. | |
is our common route, our common fundament. We will not be able to | :11:26. | :11:31. | |
live without each other. Millions of Russians live and will continue to | :11:32. | :11:35. | |
live in Ukraine and Russia will always protect their interests. | :11:36. | :11:37. | |
Political, diplomatic, legal. First and foremost, Ukraine itself | :11:38. | :11:55. | |
should be interested in the rights of these people. This is the aim for | :11:56. | :12:07. | |
stability. We want friendship with Ukraine, we want them to be a strong | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
state. It's one of our leading partners, we have lots of joint | :12:13. | :12:17. | |
projects and I believe, in spite of everything, they will be successful. | :12:18. | :12:23. | |
We want peace and agreement in the land of Ukraine. Along with other | :12:24. | :12:28. | |
countries, we are prepared to facilitate this. It is only the | :12:29. | :12:34. | |
citizens of Ukraine that can bring order into their own home. Dear | :12:35. | :12:41. | |
residents of Crimea and Sevastopol, has been admiring your courage, your | :12:42. | :12:50. | |
caring and your dignity. You decided the fate of Crimea. These days, we | :12:51. | :13:01. | |
are as close as ever, we are supporting each other. These are | :13:02. | :13:05. | |
genuine and sincere feelings of solidarity. At moments like this, | :13:06. | :13:10. | |
historic moments, the strength of the will of the nation is being | :13:11. | :13:14. | |
tested and the people of Russia have proved this surety and this force. | :13:15. | :13:28. | |
They supported their compatriots. Strength of foreign policy of Russia | :13:29. | :13:33. | |
was based on the will of millions of people, on the idea of national | :13:34. | :13:39. | |
unity, on the support of political and social forces. I want to thank | :13:40. | :13:44. | |
everybody for this patriotic feeling. Everybody, without | :13:45. | :13:50. | |
exception. It is important for us to retain this consolidation, to | :13:51. | :13:54. | |
resolve the issues that Russia is facing. We will of course be facing | :13:55. | :13:59. | |
foreign confrontation, but we have to decide for ourselves. Are we | :14:00. | :14:05. | |
prepared to protect our self interest or do we give in and | :14:06. | :14:10. | |
retreat? Several Western politicians are frightening us with sanctions | :14:11. | :14:19. | |
and sharpening internal problems. Are they talking about the fifth | :14:20. | :14:23. | |
column of national traitors or are they counting on worsening living | :14:24. | :14:31. | |
standards and instigating people 's anger? I see these statements as | :14:32. | :14:39. | |
aggressive and irresponsible. I'm not going to dwell on them. We are | :14:40. | :14:44. | |
never aiming for confrontation with our partners. On the contrary, we | :14:45. | :14:50. | |
will do everything in our powers to build civilised, neighbourly | :14:51. | :14:53. | |
relations as it should be in a contemporary world dear colleagues, | :14:54. | :15:02. | |
I understand Crimea has posed a question in a referendum very | :15:03. | :15:05. | |
clearly and distinctly. Whether Crimea should be with Ukraine | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
Russia. The leadership of Crimea and Sevastopol, Parliament, when | :15:11. | :15:16. | |
formulating the questions for the referendum, were guided by the | :15:17. | :15:27. | |
interests of genuine interests of the people. Any other option, no | :15:28. | :15:36. | |
matter how attractive it would be, by historic demographic, political | :15:37. | :15:40. | |
and economic characteristics of this region would be temporarily and | :15:41. | :15:48. | |
unstable and would bring a further worsening of the situation around | :15:49. | :15:51. | |
Crimea and negatively damaged life of people. They posed the question | :15:52. | :16:01. | |
rigidly, without compromise. The referendum was open and honest. | :16:02. | :16:06. | |
People in the Crimea clearly and convincingly expressed their will. | :16:07. | :16:08. | |
They want to be with Russia. Russia has also taken a very | :16:09. | :16:35. | |
difficult decision, taking into account, as any democratic society, | :16:36. | :16:41. | |
the different points of view. I want to underline the position of the | :16:42. | :16:48. | |
absolute majority of the people is clear. Most recent polls prove that | :16:49. | :16:57. | |
95% of the Russian population think that Russia should protect the | :16:58. | :17:02. | |
interests of Russians and other groups of people in Ukraine, 95%. | :17:03. | :17:20. | |
And more than 83% believe that Russia should take this action even | :17:21. | :17:31. | |
if it worsens our relationships. Over 8% of Russian citizens believe | :17:32. | :17:37. | |
Crimea is still Russian land. -- over 80%. This is an important | :17:38. | :17:54. | |
figure. 92% are for Crimea joining Russia. So, an absolute majority of | :17:55. | :18:09. | |
citizens of Crimea and the Russian Federation support the reunification | :18:10. | :18:16. | |
of the Republic of Crimea, with the Russian Federation. | :18:17. | :18:57. | |
We just have to take a political decision, and this decision can be | :18:58. | :19:03. | |
based only on the will of the people. It is only the people who | :19:04. | :19:11. | |
are the source of any power. Dear members of the Federation Council, | :19:12. | :19:15. | |
of the state Duma, citizens of Russia, residents of Crimea and | :19:16. | :19:22. | |
Sevastopol, today, based on the results of the referendum we had in | :19:23. | :19:26. | |
Crimea, and on the will of the people, I bring into the council the | :19:27. | :19:40. | |
execution in law on the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol. | :19:41. | :20:15. | |
And also, ratify the agreement about incorporating the Republic of Crimea | :20:16. | :20:29. | |
and Sevastopol into the Russian Federation, have no doubt, I have no | :20:30. | :20:33. | |
doubt in your support. Dear ladies and gentlemen, there | :20:34. | :20:56. | |
will be a ceremony of signing. Please remain seated. | :20:57. | :21:29. | |
STUDIO: This is BBC World News, bringing you live coverage as you | :21:30. | :21:38. | |
can see of President Putin, and his speech in Moscow. A rousing speech, | :21:39. | :21:45. | |
starting and ending there with a standing ovation. | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
There will be a signing ceremony as far as we can see, with members of | :21:51. | :21:58. | |
both Houses of Parliament, staying seated. But President Putin getting | :21:59. | :22:06. | |
a round of applause repeatedly for saying that Sevastopol and Crimea | :22:07. | :22:12. | |
will be unified with Russia, and there is mass support in Crimea and | :22:13. | :22:19. | |
Russia for that move. Let us bring in Richard Galpin, our | :22:20. | :22:22. | |
correspondence in Moscow, what did you make of that speech? A very, | :22:23. | :22:29. | |
very strong, sweeping steep -- speech going right the way through | :22:30. | :22:34. | |
the history, and emphasising the role is, essentially, saying how | :22:35. | :22:39. | |
strong the relations between Russia and Ukraine have always been. | :22:40. | :22:45. | |
And the fact that the Soviet leader gave away Crimea which had always | :22:46. | :22:51. | |
been part of Russia, since the 17th century, and that was wrong. It was | :22:52. | :22:58. | |
done behind closed doors. And again, following the collapse of the Soviet | :22:59. | :23:02. | |
Union, Russia was basically not able to hold onto Crimea at that point. | :23:03. | :23:08. | |
Russians who had been indifferent Soviet republics, stranded. | :23:09. | :23:13. | |
Emphasising that. And bringing up to date the current situation in | :23:14. | :23:18. | |
Ukraine. Describing the situation inside the country is absolutely | :23:19. | :23:25. | |
chaotic. Nobody in control. And neo-Nazis, fascists, on the loose, | :23:26. | :23:31. | |
saying people were being repressed. And Crimea was the first target. | :23:32. | :23:36. | |
Therefore, Russia, in those circumstances, had to respond. They | :23:37. | :23:41. | |
could not as he put it betray the people of Crimea. Therefore, Russia | :23:42. | :23:48. | |
got involved. He was denying that Russia had used, or there had been | :23:49. | :23:53. | |
any military intervention, saying that the forces in Crimea were | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
within the agreed limits with the Ukraine authorities, 25,000 at the | :23:59. | :24:05. | |
Fleet in Sevastopol. They had not breached those limits. Talking about | :24:06. | :24:11. | |
the referendum, stressing it was legal and democratic. | :24:12. | :24:17. | |
He started emotionally, very powerful to listen to. Saying, | :24:18. | :24:21. | |
addressing people around the world, saying, you must realise Sevastopol, | :24:22. | :24:27. | |
these are sacred for us, the birthplace of Russia, the Black Sea | :24:28. | :24:34. | |
Navy, symbols of Russian military valour. He needed to know the | :24:35. | :24:39. | |
history of Crimea, Russia, a common history. That this is one nation, | :24:40. | :24:46. | |
Ukraine, Russia, we are one people. Saying interestingly at the end that | :24:47. | :24:51. | |
they were worried about the people suffering in Russia. That Kiev is | :24:52. | :24:56. | |
the mother of Russian cities. We cannot live without each other, we | :24:57. | :25:00. | |
will always defend the many Russian speakers. He wanted friendship with | :25:01. | :25:04. | |
Ukraine and it must be up to the people of Ukraine to take the | :25:05. | :25:08. | |
decision about their future. What does that mean politically? | :25:09. | :25:13. | |
An interesting point. He specifically ruled out, he said, | :25:14. | :25:20. | |
that Russia did not want to divide Ukraine. Basically saying, | :25:21. | :25:25. | |
implying, there will not be further military intervention in Ukraine. It | :25:26. | :25:34. | |
is up to the people of Ukraine to sort out their own issues. But, as I | :25:35. | :25:40. | |
said before, he is saying there is chaos in the country, there is no | :25:41. | :25:44. | |
government, only radicals in control. An important point, I was | :25:45. | :25:50. | |
struck how angry he is with the West. Talking about how Russia, | :25:51. | :25:54. | |
essentially since the collapse of the Soviet Union, has been pushed | :25:55. | :25:59. | |
into a corner constantly. It is in their interest, which is not being | :26:00. | :26:08. | |
respected. Essentially if you push down and down, eventually, like a | :26:09. | :26:15. | |
spring, it will snap up. Ukraine was that, he said. He said he saw the | :26:16. | :26:25. | |
threat of sea urchins as an act of aggression, and that Russia should | :26:26. | :26:35. | |
be respected, and he was grateful for others understanding their | :26:36. | :26:42. | |
history. He said this is about freedom of choice. People in Kosovo | :26:43. | :26:46. | |
and Albania had that freedom of independence, why not here? We have | :26:47. | :26:53. | |
to leave it here, that special coverage of that speech by President | :26:54. | :26:58. | |
Putin, a key speech. Much more on BBC News. Goodbye. | :26:59. | :27:00. |