Putin Blames Ukrainian Protests on ‘Militants’ and ‘Outsiders’

It's not the first time Putin has blamed Ukrainian unrest on foreigners besides himself

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Vasily Maximov / Getty Images / AFP

Ukrainian protesters wave an E.U. flag as hundreds gather for an opposition rally in Mykhayllivska Square in Kiev after police dispersed protesters in Independence Square on Nov. 30, 2013

Russian President Vladimir Putin has a theory about the sudden outburst of street protests in the Ukraine: It’s not sudden and it’s not Ukrainian. “Outside actors” are to blame for the unrest, he said during a press conference on Monday.

Putin suggested that “well-organized and trained militant groups” played a role in the protests, which he characterized as “more of a pogrom than a revolution.”

Demonstrators have spilled into the streets since the Ukrainian president abruptly cancelled trade talks with the EU, in what was widely regarded as a capitulation to heavy-handed pressure tactics from Moscow.

The comments reflect a long-standing position by Putin that the “color revolutions” that swept through post-Soviet client states in the early 2000’s were “developed schemes” rather than spontaneous eruptions of discontent.

[Reuters]