Putin to award soldiers ‘for helping Crimean referendum’
However, their names will not be made public now, the Russian President told RBK.
Putin disagrees with the opinion that the results of the referendum in Crimea were affected by the presence of Russian soldiers on the peninsula. “Being just and unbiased, we can say that you cannot make people leave their houses and vote even at gunpoint. But the turnout was 83%,” he stated.
Putin thinks that comparing the situation in Crimea and in North Caucuses is an incorrect thing to do: “There is a huge difference. We faced the aggression of the international terrorism in North Caucuses. There were well-prepared gangs financed and armed from abroad. The difference is enormous.”
Photo: kvedomosti.com
