Russia is gearing up to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Crimean vote to leave Ukraine and join the Russian state. The state-run Rossiya 1 channel aired a documentary about the event on Sunday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed the moment he says he gave the secret order for Russia's take back of Crimea and described how Russian troops were ready to fight to rescue Ukraine's former president.

The three-hour documentary shows the reconstruction of Crimea after the crisis, and more importantly, interviews with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He said Moscow was ready to put its nuclear forces on alert to ensure the return of Crimea from Ukraine.

The film provided details of Ukraine's former president, Viktor Yanukovich's last hours in Ukraine before he fled to Rostov-on-Don, in southern Russia.

Putin said that Russia had saved the life of Yanukovich.

He said Yanukovich had been in danger, after 'revolutionaries' seized power, following weeks of violent street protests in Kiev last year.

"I asked special forces and high-ranking officials from the Defense Ministry to the Kremlin, and ordered them to save Ukraine's former president. Or else, he would've lost his life." Said Putin.

Putin also pointed out in the documentary that the US, instead of the EU, was behind the turmoil in Ukraine.

He said Russia was obligated to take action, in order to let the people in Crimea choose their own fate.

"When we saw the extremist Nazis there, we undertstood the difficult situation that local people were facing. I want to emphasize that, just at that moment, I was aware that we couldn't neglect their difficulties." He said.

Putin also revealed in the documentary that in March 2014, he ordered thousands of Russian special forces, marines and airborne troops to prepare to neutralize the Ukrainian military.

He added the deployment conforms to international conventions.

The return of Crimea to Russia was a critical event in the Ukrainian crisis.

Putin said it had not occurred to him to try and take back Crimea until the coup by pro-Western protesters. And Russia was prepared for any retaliation from the West.

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