Russian President Vladimir Putin was prepared to put his country's nuclear weapons on standby at the time conflicts in Ukraine and Crimea were escalating.

Putin made the admission in a documentary that he appeared in, which aired on state TV on Sunday.

He justified his readiness to use nuclear weapons on his view that the life of ex-Ukrainian leader Victor Yanukovych was in peril.

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As for Crimea, he said there were many Russians in the Ukrainian territory and their lives were also in danger.

This is also the reason being given by Putin as he explained why Russia had suddenly annexed Crimea, which was condemned by the international community.

In one excerpt, the Russian leader had admitted that even before a referendum on the issue was held in Crimea, he had already ordered its annexation.

The Russians took over Crimea on March 18, with the entry of soldiers who did not wear any insignia.

"We never thought about severing Crimea from Ukraine, until the moment that these events, the government overthrow, began," Putin said in the documentary.

"Crimea is our historical territory. Russian people live there. They were in danger. We cannot abandon them," he added.

The documentay where Putin made this remarks is titled, "the Path to the Motherland."

In taking over Crimea, Putin also claimed that he used as basis a "closed opinion poll" among Crimeans, which had asked if they wanted to remain part of Ukraine or join Russia.

Putin said, 75 percent of the respondents wanted Crimea to be annexed to Russia. He did not elaborate on how this survey was conducted.

Putin had not been seen in public events since March 5.

There are speculations that he watched the documentary from his sickbed.

But Kremlin denies rumors on Putin's health.

During his meeting with Kyrgyzstan President Almazbek Atambayev on Monday, Putin laughed off suggestions that he had been forced to take it slow because of his poor health.

He just said, life would be "boring without gossip."

TagsPutin, Ukraine, Crimea