Russia had no choice - Volodin on special operation in Ukraine

MOSCOW. March 3 (Interfax) - Russia had to begin the military operation in Ukraine to prevent tragic consequences from the actions of NATO and local nationalists for Ukraine, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said.

"If the operation had not started, a NATO operation would have begun on the next day by the hands of Banderovites and neo-Nazis in Ukraine. We made it in time, which means we saved hundreds of thousands of lives," Volodin said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 television channel (VGTRK).

Russia "had no choice," he said. "See how much Ukraine has been pumped with weapons by NATO. The consequences would have been tragic if we had not begun the special peacekeeping operation," Volodin said.

"Today's Ukraine is not an independent state. Every decision of their president is dictated by Washington. He does not think about his own population. He actually put it under NATO and made it a bridgehead. In turn, NATO breached every agreement and started its enlargement towards our borders," Volodin said.

"A huge contingent was amassed on the border with the DPR and the LPR. Tens of thousands of troops that have been practically exterminating people in the two republics over eight years," he said.