Decision to incorporate Crimea was made following sociological polls, it wasn't planned initially - Putin
NOVO-OGARYOVO. April 10 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said the final decision on the inclusion of Crimea and Sevastopol into Russia was made in regards to a sociological poll conducted in Crimea.
"I made my decisions after it became clear how people felt. We did not prepare for such events. We could imagine how people felt, but we didn't know it for a fact," Putin said during a meeting with All-Russia Popular Front activists.
"The first sociological polls, which, let's say directly, we conducted secretly, but whose outcome was fairly close to the real situation, made it clear that our line of behavior was right," Putin said.
Putin reiterated that the first sociological poll showed that 80% of the people of Crimea and even more people in Sevastopol wanted Crimea to join Russia. "That figure increased even more at the referendum, when the process began developing," Putin said, adding that this figure is amazing.
"If we didn't know that the situation was the way it was, we would not have acted the way we did, consistently and persistently," Putin said.
