The conflict stems from the Western-backed coup in Ukraine, the Russian president said

Russia was left with no choice but to launch its military operation in Ukraine because of the continued persecution of the people of Donbass by Kiev following the 2014 Western-backed Euromaidan coup, President Vladimir Putin has said. 

During a meeting with a group of businessmen in the Kremlin on Monday, Putin said that Moscow could not ignore the plight of Russian-speakers in the neighboring country. He reiterated Russia's position that the ongoing conflict stems from the turbulent events in Kiev in early 2014 when initially peaceful protests spiraled into riots and clashes with police, which led to the ouster of democratically elected President Viktor Yanukovich. The anti-Yanukovich forces included ultranationalist groups like Pravy Sektor (Right Sector) and the Svoboda (Freedom) party. 

"You need to understand that we weren't the ones who orchestrated the coup in Ukraine," Putin said. "[The West] has always told us that there should be democracy and elections... but they carried out a coup - a bloody one, in fact - as if it were normal. They later went on to suppress the Donbass, killing people with helicopters and jets." 

"They practically forced us into doing what we're doing today, and now they're trying to blame us for it," the president said.

The coup in Kiev sparked counterprotests and more riots, including a deadly clash in Odessa in May 2014, where 48 people were killed. The largely Russian-speaking regions of Donetsk and Lugansk rejected the Euromaidan and voted for independence from Ukraine. The new government in Kiev responded by sending troops in the spring of 2014 and repeatedly shelling and bombing Donetsk and other Donbass cities.

Ukraine later refused to implement the UN-backed 2014-2015 Minsk accords, which would have granted autonomy to Donetsk and Lugansk. EU officials, including former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, acknowledged later that Kiev had used the pause in the fighting to rebuild its army and economy. Ukraine also adopted several laws since 2014 aimed at restricting the use of Russian language in the public sphere.

Putin cited Ukraine's failure to respect the Minsk accords and the attacks on the rights of Russian-speakers as "the root causes" of the conflict, describing Kiev's actions as "genocide." 

He has since demanded that Ukraine drop its plans to join NATO in favor of becoming a permanently neutral state, and recognize Crimea and four other former Ukrainian regions as part of Russia.