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Ousted Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych received Russian aid to escape the country in February, President Vladimir Putin said.

Russia helped to evacuate Yanukovych to Crimea, when the Black Sea peninsula was still part of Ukraine, and then agreed to assist him across the border into Russia, Putin told the annual Valdai Club meeting in Sochi today.

“I won’t conceal it that we helped him move to Crimea,” he said. “At that moment, Crimea was part of Ukraine. As the events in Kiev were developing very quickly and violently, it made no sense for him to return to Kiev.”

Putin’s comments mark the first time Russia has said it helped Yanukovych to flee into exile after months of anti-government protests in Kiev. Putin admitted in April that the soldiers who took control of Crimea before his annexation of the Black Sea territory were Russian. He’d previously denied that Russia’s military was involved.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-24/putin-says-russia-helped-yanukovych-to-escape-ukraine.html