Moscow. February 24. INTERFAX - Russian President Vladimir Putin called on the Ukrainian military to lay down their arms and threatened a crushing response to those countries that decide to intervene in the situation from the outside.
"I urge you to immediately lay down your weapons and go home. All servicemen of the Ukrainian army who fulfill this requirement will be able to freely leave the combat zone and return to their families," Putin said in a televised address.
"All responsibility for possible bloodshed will be entirely on the conscience of the regime ruling on the territory of Ukraine," he said.