(Anatoly Matios said that without Yanukovych's letter, Russia would have no reason to enter the troops in Ukraine - Red. ) I think that this is not entirely true, Russia would have introduced troops, since Putin at his first press conference after Yanukovych's escape from Ukraine spoke about the need to take into account the opinion of the Crimeans, the situation in the Crimea, the socio-political situation and. In Russia, initially justified the introduction of troops into the Crimea, although they hid it, by the need to help the Crimeans, the so-called referendum and so on.

That is, there were completely different criteria, and the fact of the appeal of Yanukovych - it was most likely an internal procedure, necessary for the Russian Federation, but not for Putin personally. For Putin, other criteria were important, and in the beginning, in February-March, Putin did not recognize the presence of Russian troops on the territory of the Crimea.

As for the Donbass, here is another situation. Officially, as you know, Putin did not make a decision on the introduction of troops into the territory of Donbass, but unofficially understandably they are there.

Consequently, Yanukovych's letter did not play any power from the point of view of Putin's decision, but it certainly had the force as a potential document that can be considered by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies on the basis of the offense of treason. That is, his letter can be regarded as a very dubious and dangerous document for Ukrainian statehood.

But personally for Putin it was not a matter of principle. Putin completely different motives guided when he introduced to the Crimea.

There are three events that are interrelated. These are the events in the Donbass, the events in the Crimea and the events of EuroMaidan. There would be no Crimea - there would be no events in the Donbass. If there was no situation on EuroMaidan and Yanukovych's escape, there would be no Crimea. Everything is interconnected.

I think that Russia has long developed a plan for the annexation of the Crimea, maybe even ten years ago, in 2003-2004, but until a certain period they did not put it into effect.

But why they began to take concrete steps then, actual attempts at preparation are a big question. And here there are very serious discrepancies between what officials in Ukraine and in the Russian Federation say. That is, all their statements are actually contradictory.

Prepare an operation for the annexation of the Crimea is impossible in two days, as Putin says about it.

But if she prepared for several months, even from December to January, then it is unclear why Yanukovych did not take any steps, actions before. He could have run away in December, January. That is, there is a clear discrepancy between the events and inconsistency of a number of facts.

Editorial site is not responsible for the content of blogs. The editorial opinion may differ from the author's.

Join the group "Browser Blogs" on Facebook, stay tuned!.