12.28pm GMT

Here is a summary of what the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said during his address to parliament, lasting just under an hour.

• Putin signed draft legislation on bringing the Crimea region into Russia following a defiant address to the federal assembly. Crimea’s prime minister and parliament speaker also signed the document.

• During the televised address, he said that in the hearts and minds of Russian people, “Crimea has always been and remains an inseparable part of Russia”. He said its fate had always been an issue of “vital importance” to Russia.

• Putin dismissed the idea that Russia would try to seize other regions in Ukraine, as an attempt to scare people. “We do not want a partition of Ukraine, we do not need this,” he said.



• He said that the rights of all minorities would be protected in Crimea, announcing that all all three main nationalities there - Ukrainians, ethnic Russians and Tatars - would have equal language rights. Tatars, who were persecuted and deported under Stalin have been particularly fearful of their fate under Russia.

• He accused the west of having “crossed the line” over Ukraine, and of trying to scare Russia with sanctions. Putin said Russia would never seek to start a confrontation with the west but would defend its own interests.



• Referring to intervention around the world, including in the Middle East, Putin said western partners, headed by the US ,were guided by the “rule of the gun”. Dismissing accusations of aggression made against Russia, he said not a single shot had been fired in Crimea.

• The Russian president accused nationalists, neo-Nazis, Russophobes and anti-Semites of being behind the “coup” in Ukraine.He said usurpers and radicals were in government positions in Kiev.

