Ex-head of the General Staff of Ukraine: Kyiv had a plan to counteract the Russian military a month before the "annexation" of Crimea

In early February 2014, a month before the referendum in the Crimea and the entry of the peninsula into Russia, Kyiv prepared a plan to counteract the transfer of military from the Russian Federation to Crimea. In early March of the same year, the Ukrainian authorities attempted to counteract the "annexation", but someone from the country's top leadership at the last moment changed his mind.

This was told by the ex-head of the General Staff of Ukraine Volodymyr Zamana, who served as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from February 18, 2012 to February 19, 2014. After that, he was appointed authorized by the Verkhovna Rada for the activities of the Ministry of Defense of the country.

In an interview with Gordon, Zamana said that in early March 2014, by order of the General Staff, three IL-76 and 20 helicopters flew out with a landing to block the Crimean Isthmus and prevent the transfer of Russian troops. "

“But someone gave the command to return the planes with the landing when they were already in the air, and prevent them to complete tasks in the Crimea,” Zamana emphasized. According to him, at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council, a month "before the actual annexation" developed a plan to repel the attack on the peninsula.

As Zamana explained, the meeting was present at the time and. O. President of Ukraine Alexander Turchinov, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Minister of Defense Igor Tenyukh. From his words, during the conversation, Yatsenyuk repeated: "Everything is bad, everything was gone." Tenyukh allegedly stated that the Ukrainian army is not ready to fight with Russia.

"As a result, the management decided not to start retaliatory active actions, although at the meeting I said that the General Staff has a plan to repel the attack on the Crimea ... In particular, four battalion tactical groups of airmobile troops and Airborne Forces were prepared for the transfer to Crimea, as well as special forces regiments were already prepared for these actions, and the reconnaissance company of the 25th Airborne Brigade from January 26, 2014 was completely at all in advance. Reduced to Crimea, ”added Zamana.

On the eve of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on European integration issues, Elena Mirkal, during a speech in the UN Security Council, called on the international organization to strengthen pressure on Russia and expand sanctions due to the situation in the Crimea , which the official Kiev authorities continue to consider annexed territory.

Speaking at the UN Security Council, the mirror also announced the growing militarization of the “occupied Crimea” and repressions in relation to Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars, which live on the peninsula, which became part of Russia in 2014.

It should be noted that earlier, on the eve of the next anniversary of the referendum in the Crimea and against the backdrop of the President Vladimir Putin’s peninsula, the State Department stated that the United States continues to consider Crimea part of Ukraine and did not intend to cancel the sanctions that were introduced by Washington against Russia in response to the attachment of the peninsula.

Crimea became part of the Russian Federation following a referendum held on March 16, 2014. In the West, such an connection was considered illegitimate. In Europe and the USA, they consider the accession of Crimea to Russia annexation, in Kyiv it is called occupation.

In April 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted that during the referendum in the Crimea there were Russian troops. Soldiers from the Russian Federation "helped ... hold a referendum," the head of the Russian Federation explained. He also explained that Moscow did not want to give the NATO peninsula, where, in his opinion, Ukraine could enter.