Question: Mr President, a clarification if I may. The people who were blocking the Ukrainian Army units in Crimea were wearing uniforms that strongly resembled the Russian Army uniform. Were those Russian soldiers, Russian military?
Vladimir Putin: Why don’t you take a look at the post-Soviet states. There are many uniforms there that are similar. You can go to a store and buy any kind of uniform.
Question: But were they Russian soldiers or not?
Vladimir Putin: Those were local self-defence units.
Now go back and click to be refresh your so faulty memory.
The Crimea has been inside Ukrainian international borders ever became there was such a border.
So I'll remind you with the history of denial: https://www.rferl.org/amp/from-not-us-to-why-hide-it-how-russia-denied-its-crimea-invasion-then-admitted-it/29791806.html
If you bothered to click the link instead of writing your stupid response you would see the sources used in the RFE article are such as https://web.archive.org/web/20150416071001/https://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/20366
Now go back and click to be refresh your so faulty memory.
Among all the countries in the world only a few like Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela, Zimbabwe agree with Russia on the issue whose territory it is.
Not even China does.
(But the "pro-Western" Afghanistan did lol)