President Vladimir Putin has boasted that Russia took over Crimea "without a single shot being fired." There's even a propaganda movie that presents the operation as the result of brilliant Kremlin planning and seamless execution. A document published Monday shed new light on why the annexation was bloodless — and on the limits of Putin's aggressiveness.
The news site Pravda.com.ua has published the transcript of a meeting of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council that took place Feb. 28, 2014. The previous day, Russian troops without identifying insignia helped pro-Moscow activists take over Crimea's parliament and government. The following day, the Russian parliament authorized Putin to start military operations in Ukraine.
The meeting's attendees, officials swept into power by Ukraine's "Revolution of Dignity," vainly sought to prevent the loss of Crimea to Russia, but effectively decided to give up the peninsula, believing the alternative would be worse.