Russia does not want to take over Ukraine's Crimea region, President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday, but he showed no signs of backing down over Russia's right to intervene despite Western pressure.
In defiant words, he said what had happened in Ukraine was an "anti-constitutional coup and armed seizure of power," and insisted that ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is the legitimate leader of the nation.
He also insisted that if Russian-speaking citizens in the east of Ukraine ask for Russia's help, Russia has the right "to take all measures to protect the rights of those people."
The parliament in Ukraine is "partly legitimate," he said, but the country's acting President is not.
Appearing at ease as he addressed a handful of reporters in Moscow, Putin said only the people of Crimea, a Russian-dominated autonomous region, could determine their future.
He also continued to deny that Russian forces were in the country, saying that the troops currently blockading Ukrainian forces in their bases and controlling key institutions were local "self-defense teams."
The troops in question -- who appeared in Crimea late last week -- are wearing uniforms without identifying insignia. But some have told CNN teams on the ground that they are indeed from Russia, and they are making use of military vehicles with Russian registration plates.
Putin said that there had been no need for the use of Russia's military so far, with not a shot fired, and that any use of military force would be the last resort. He repeatedly cast any such intervention as a humanitarian mission.
Military action, he said, would be "completely legitimate" because it was at the request of Yanukovych and in line with Russia's duty to protect people with historic ties to Russia, both cultural and economic.
"Firstly, we have a request of the legitimate President Yanukovych to protect the welfare of the local population. We have neo-Nazis and Nazis and anti-Semites in parts of Ukraine, including Kiev," Putin said.
At the same time as he appeared to use that request to justify a Russian intervention, Putin said he saw no political future for Yanukovych, who resurfaced in Russia last week after fleeing Kiev 10 days ago.
The Russian President also pointed out what he sees as a double standard by leaders in the United States and other Western countries, saying that the U.S. acted in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya without a U.N. resolution authorizing that action or by "twisting" U.N. resolutions.
And he warned that any damage from sanctions imposed by the West against Russia over its actions in Ukraine would be multilateral.
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