Ukraine not to launch military operation in Crimea - Turchynov

Ukraine will not attempt to conduct a military operation in Crimea in order to avoid threats to its eastern border, acting Ukrainian President and Verkhovna Rada Chairman Oleksandr Turchynov has said.

"We cannot launch a military operation in Crimea, as we would expose the eastern border and Ukraine would not be protected," he said in an interview with AFP on Tuesday.

Turchynov said that the upcoming all-Crimean referendum was a "sham," the results of which would be corrected in Moscow.

"What they call the referendum will not happen in Crimea but in the offices of the Kremlin," he said.