Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated that Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev effectively gave Crimea, which was part of the RSFSR, to Ukraine.

Axar.az reports that he made this statement in an interview with Mongolia’s “Onoodor” newspaper.

According to Putin, the current situation in Ukraine has been influenced by a complex of both external and internal factors, and the decisions of Soviet leaders regarding national-territorial issues also played a negative role:

"In 1954, Khrushchev effectively gave Crimea, which was part of the RSFSR, to Ukraine. The borders of the republics within the USSR were arbitrarily divided based on proletarian necessity. Thus, the industrial Donbas, predominantly inhabited by Russians, was given to Ukraine."