Putin: 'If I had been told before 2014 that a Russian-Ukrainian conflict was possible, I would have said you’re crazy.'

Russian President Vladimir Putin has admitted that before 2014 he, along with many others, could not have imagined that a conflict could occur between the Russian Federation and Ukraine.

“Before 2014, it did not occur to me that such a conflict could arise between Russia and Ukraine,” Putin said during a plenary session at a cultural forum in St. Petersburg. “If someone had told me before 2014 that this was possible, I would have said, are you crazy?” he added.

The President emphasized that “one should judge not by what people say, but by what they do.”