The decision "to withdraw Ukrainian troops from the Crimea without resistance" was taken on the initiative of the head of the then presidential administration of Ukraine Sergei Pashinsky. This was on his page in Facebook written by Viktor Yanukovych's lawyer Vitaly Serdyuk.

In support of his statement, the lawyer appended copies of the interrogation protocol of the former acting president. head of the Defense Ministry Igor Tenyukha. According to the published fragments, in his report on the situation on the peninsula at the meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, held on March 23, 2014, he suggested "to make a breakthrough to the Crimea."

"In response, Sergei Pashinsky said:" It's all clear with the minister, he wants war, we will hear other members. "Immediately after me Stepan Poltorak, who was the commander of the National Guard (now the Minister of Defense of Ukraine - Ed.), Said:" I I propose to take our troops from the Crimea with proudly raised banners. "In response, I said that it is better to shoot myself and in that case I am ready to resign immediately," reads the document.

Political scientist: Crimea was not interested in Kiev, while it was part of Ukraine

According to Tenyukh, all proposals of the Ukrainian military "on the defense of the peninsula" were blocked by Arseniy Yatseniuk, who at that time occupied the post of prime minister of Ukraine.

Crimea became the Russian region following the results of a referendum held on the peninsula in 2014 after a coup in Ukraine. More than 95 percent of the inhabitants of the Republic voted for such a decision.

Kiev calls the peninsula "temporarily occupied territory". Moscow repeatedly noted that the Crimeans made their choice in a democratic way in full accordance with international law. As the President of Russia Vladimir Putin has emphasized, the issue of Crimea is closed definitively.

Link: http://crimea.ria.ru/world/20180207/1113795737.html