Helpful Fleeing

From the BBC:
"Putin: Russia helped Yanukovych to flee Ukraine"

Russia helped ousted Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych to flee from violent protests in February, Russian leader Vladimir Putin has said. It is the first time Mr Putin has said openly that he helped his ally to flee. Russian speakers in Ukraine's east mostly backed Mr Yanukovych and were enraged at his overthrow, which helped to fuel months of violence. Ukraine is electing a new parliament on Sunday, but eastern separatists will hold their own vote next month. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has told Mr Putin that the elections in the east must be held under Ukrainian law. Speaking to members of the Valdai discussion club in Sochi, Mr Putin said Mr Yanukovych had been removed by force. Mr Yanukovych fled to Russia in February after protests in which more than 100 people died.

"I will say it openly - he asked to be driven away to Russia, which we did," the Russian president said.  Vladimir Putin looked calm and relaxed. He cracked jokes. He claimed Russia did not want confrontation and bore no grudge because of sanctions. All that was needed, he said, was to restore the balance lost when the Soviet Union disappeared as a global counterweight to US power. All Russia wanted was for Russian interests to be respected. That's the key to understanding Mr Putin these days: from the Ukraine crisis to violence in the Middle East, he claims that all the turbulence in the world is due to mistakes made by an American superpower which erroneously believed that it was the sole victor of the Cold War and could shape the world to suit its exclusive interests. The problem, he says, is a world without rules where the US has run rampage.  Over Ukraine, he denies that Russia violated international law and or breached sovereignty. Russia's annexation of Crimea was fulfilling Crimea's right to self-determination. As for hostile propaganda to create a new enemy, this was an American tactic, aimed at Russia, not vice versa. Indeed almost every criticism he made of the US could be applied to Russia itself. But in Mr Putin's scathing denunciation of American power, he simply refuses to acknowledge it. 

 ^ This is no surprise. Everyone knew Russia helped Yanukovych leave the Ukraine just as everyone knows that Russia is supplying the ethnic-Russian terrorists in eastern Ukraine with men and weapons. ^


http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29761799