Putin says Russia's actions in Crimea prevented conflict - RIA news agency

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with members of the government at the Kremlin in Moscow, March 4, 2015. REUTERS/Alexei Druzhinin/RIA Novosti/Kremlin

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said that Russia's decisive actions in Crimea a year ago were to prevent a conflict similar to the one that followed later in east Ukraine, the state agency RIA Novosti reported on Thursday.

Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea after a March 16, 2014, referendum on the peninsula in support of joining Russia.