“We proceed from only one thing, which is we cannot abandon the people who live in the southeast of the country to nationalists to eat them up,” Putin told the state-run Rossia television network.
Those people include “not only ethnic Russians, but also Russian speakers who are looking toward Russia,” Putin said. “There is nothing excessive in that position.”
http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/putin-says-will-not-abandon-russian-republics-ukraine/ri11993