“If Ukrainian authorities begin a physical destruction of the Russian population or any repressions against it, Russia will have a right to make a military intervention”, said Russian LDPR party leader Vladimir Zhyrinovskiy in an interview with Ukrayina television.
“Everything depends on the population of the Crimea and other, eastern and southern, regions of Ukraine. There are very many citizens who are either Russian or support closer ties with Russia. Everything must be decided at a referendum. Probably, Ukraine will be a neutral state, and there will be no problems. Because it was namely Saakashvili who started the aggression. If he did not start that, even despite the Kosovo case, Moscow would not recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia”, he said.
“I’m not sure that somebody in Kyiv will begin to destroy Russians somewhere in the Crimea, Donbass, or Kharkiv… But if anybody bombs Symferopol, Kharkiv, Donetsk, other cities, we will defend them”, the Russian politician emphasized.
Asked by a Ukrainian journalist how many addresses they should receive from Russian citizens in Crimea for Russia to begin an intervention, Zhyrinovskiy said:
“When two years ago an Israeli corporal perished in Lebanon, the Israeli army invaded the Lebanese territory and punished the whole Lebanon. Thousands of local residents died… If somebody will try to drag Ukraine into NATO, and the population will be against, and if they will be mocked over and arrested, and a shooting will begin, Russia will have a right to defend our citizens in Ukraine”, he claimed.
“The best variant for Ukraine and Georgia is to be neutral states. We would have no borders and no customs between our countries”, V.Zhyrinovskiy claimed.
