Putin reserves the right 'to use all means' to safeguard Russian interest in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin says there is no need yet to send Russian troops into Ukraine, but reserved the right to use "all means" to protect its citizens in the east of the country.

He denied Russian troops had besieged Ukrainians in Crimea, and said that all troops there were pro-Russian "self-defence" forces.

Putin defended Viktor Yanukovych and described his toppling as an "anti-constitutional coup and armed seizure of power".

He insisted that Yanukovych - whom Ukraine's parliament voted to impeach on 22 February - was still the legitimate president, and accused the West of encouraging the street protests that had ousted him.

He insisted that the deposed leader - who is in Russia - had agreed to all of the opposition's demands, and that Russia had to help him for "humanitarian" reasons, "otherwise he'd just have been killed".

In Moscow, Mr Putin said "militants" had plunged Ukraine into "chaos". He also said Ukrainian "nationalists" and "anti-Semites" were roaming the streets of Kiev and other cities.

If Russian-speaking people in eastern Ukraine asked for Russia's help then Moscow would respond, he said.

"If we see this anarchy beginning in the eastern regions, we reserve the right to use all means," he said.

Hundreds of pro-Russian demonstrators have been rallying in Donetsk and other parts of eastern Ukraine, rejecting the new pro-Western leadership in Kiev.