AUSTIN, Texas — Former President Jimmy Carter said Tuesday the Russian annexation of Crimea was a "foregone conclusion" and Russia has always considered the region its territory.
"I don't think there is any way of keeping Putin from going into Crimea," Carter said. "Russia has always considered Crimea to be part of Russia, from when I was president and Lyndon Johnson too."
"I think three-fourths of Crimean people wanted to be part of Russia, so that was a foregone conclusion," he went on to say. "Nothing Obama or the EU can say or do will change that now. We have to stop Putin now. He can't be permitted to take military action in eastern Crimea."
Carter is speaking and signing books at the Civil Rights Summit at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library in Texas.