'Look at Yugoslavia' To have sent the Ukrainian army into eastern Ukraine was madness, said Mr Putin, a "grave

crime" which meant that the illegal government in Kiev was staring int o the abyss. He categorically rejected allegations that Russian special forces were operating in eastern Ukraine too. This, he said was "utter nonsense": the only forces in eastern Ukraine were locals, forced to take up arms in self-defence. A masked gunman In Sloviansk, 16 April Mr Putin denies Russian soldiers are amon g the gunmen in eastern Ukraine Kiev had to pull its Ukrainian troops and heavy weaponry out, he said, before any compromise could possibly work. And if not, then Moscow would not recognise the presidential election in May and , more chilling still, everyone should remember that the Russian parliament had given him what he called the "right" to use Russian military force in Ukraine. He stressed that he hoped he would not have to give the order. But the threat re mains: as a last resort, those tens of thousands of Russian troops based across the border might indeed be ordered to invade. And if Russians feared that this might create enmity for the first time in histo ry between Russia and its Ukrainian brethren, it was not Russia's fault, said Mr Putin. He nodded to (unnamed) foreign powers who were always trying to drive a wedge between Russia and its neighbours out of fear of Russia's size and power. "Look at Yugoslavia," he said. "They cut it up and then began to manipulate it. That's what they want to do with us." Anxieties This paranoia that the West has been out to weaken Russia emerged in other comme nts too. Absorbing Crimea into Russia had also been important in terms of national defenc e, he admitted, because otherwise the Nato alliance might have moved into Crimea and Sevastopol, elbowing Russia out of its rightful position at the heart of th e Black Sea. But Mr Putin's attitude to the West is complicated. He also wants to be friends again - and so, it seems, do many Russians. A succession of questions made clear that while Russians may welcome the return of Crimea to the motherland, they are also worried about the price they might ha ve to pay for this victory. President Putin tried to reassure them: that there was enough money in Russian reserves to cover the billions of roubles needed to prop Crimea up that crippling European sanctions were unlikely that Russia did not face the prospect of international isolation because many co untries understood its point of view that if the Ukraine crisis could be resolved peacefully, a good working relation ship with the United States and Europe could be restored It was a telling reflection of the anxieties of ordinary Russian people. Just as his own performance was an insight into the fears and suspicions which h ave driven Vladimir Putin's actions so far and a glimpse of his game plan for ho

w this Ukrainian crisis might be resolved. But the tensions have not yet subsided. His deep-seated grievances against the W est will probably not go away. And after all that has happened it may be harder to rebuild co-operation with Western partners and with any new government in Kie v than he assumes. It's still too soon to tell which way this crisis may turn out.