Silvio Berlusconi, former PM of Italy: "I accompanied Vladimir on his first trip to Crimea after its reconciliation with Russia. It's not just a wonderful place with unique nature and history and beautiful cities. I was impressed by the people whom I saw sincerely demonstrate their love and sympathy to President Putin. He was literally surrounded by people. Crying women were hugging and kissing him. It was clear that he also loves those people. I was touched by that. Crimea used to be a Russian territory. Ukraine received it for some weird reason. A referendum was conducted where the absolute majority voted to leave Ukraine and reconcile with Russia. It's absolutely legal and beyond any criticism".
- What aspects of our relations with the West became clearer to you after Crimea?
Vladimir Putin: "Look, Ukraine had a complex domestic situation. Three European foreign ministers came there in fall 2014 from Poland, France, and Germany. President Yanukovych and his opposition came to an agreement. The three foreign ministers signed this agreement as guarantors. But there's more. Our American colleagues addressed us, me personally. I've never mentioned before what I'm going to say now. They asked us to stop President Yanukovych from using military force. They, in turn, were to make the opposition leave city squares and administrative buildings in order to return everything back to normal. We agreed. We fulfilled our end of the bargain. A couple of days later, there was a coup. Someone could have said something. "Yes, the situation's out of control. We didn't want that. We'll try to fix it". Three countries acted as guarantors. Three ministers signed the agreement. They could have at least pretended that they wanted to set everything back on the legal track. They could have addressed the ones who seized the power. But no".
- They did it intentionally.
Vladimir Putin: "They instantly offered their financial, administrative, informational, and political support to the rebel government. Come on! Is that how they decided to treat us? In such circumstances, those who lived in Crimea understood and felt what was happening especially seeing all that zealous nationalism and decided to return to Russia. Were we supposed to abandon them? Our partners must realize that they can't make arrangements with Russia in such a rude way".
- Are there any theoretical circumstances that would make you return Crimea and Sevastopol?”
Vladimir Putin: "Are you kidding? There has never been nor will ever be such circumstances. Our so-called partners are constantly trying to "pinch" the Crimeans. I'm speaking about their visa policy and so on. It's quite curious if you think about it. Everybody's speaking about human rights. But there's basically no way Crimeans could get a visa. What's that? Are they being punished for having made their choice? What does it look like from the human rights perspective? What does it look from that belfry from where they're always telling us where to go and how to live? It's nothing but a double standard. That's ridiculous. But that's what our partners do. Absolutely no grace".
We've chosen a response that'll be the most painful for our partners and the most useful for Crimea.
Crimea's developing. Now, the reconciliation is not only spiritual and legal but also physical. The new national project for Crimea was also Putin's personal idea.
Vladimir Putin: "As soon as the project is executed, I'm absolutely sure that their life will change significantly. It would be easier to transport cargo and communicate. We're building the bridge ahead of our present-day needs "to grow into".
