File photo of Vladimir Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the crisis in Ukraine had evolved into a full-scale civil war, blaming Washington for backing the overthrow of former president Viktor Yanukovych.
"The Ukrainian crisis arose because Yanukovych postponed the association agreement with the European Union. This was followed by a coup backed by our American friends and as a result there is chaos and full-scale civil war," Putin told an economic forum in Saint Petersburg.