Chairman of Russia's State Duma Viacheslav Volodin says Ukraine's "annexation" of Crimea lasted for 25 years and it should pay "compensation" to Russia.
Speaking in occupied Crimea, which he visited on the fifth anniversary of the occupation of the Ukrainian peninsula by Russia, he said "Ukraine treated Crimea very, very dishonestly, the fundamental rights of citizens were violated: the right to language, the right to education in their native language, the economy of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol was destroyed, in fact, it was the annexation," the press service of the lower house of the Russian parliament told UNIAN.
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"In this regard, based on the voiced proposal, let us instruct our profile committees together with the profile committees of the Crimea State Council to study this issue, analyze, calculate how much the Crimea economy lost due to this destructive policy of Ukraine, which was imposed here, how much people lost, what rights were violated, and through our parliamentary structures, European structures, we will oblige Ukraine to compensate for what Crimea has lost over these 25 years," he said.
Volodin also proposed that the issue of the EU's responsibility for the social and economic situation of Crimea be considered, taking into account the EU's support of Ukraine.
"As for money, it's necessary to calculate how much Ukraine owes, and since the European Union still supports it, what debts will be shared by the European Union," he said.
UNIAN memo. Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea in March 2014 after its troops had occupied the peninsula. An illegal referendum was held for Crimeans to decide on accession to Russia. De-facto Crimean authorities reported that allegedly 96.77% of the Crimean population had voted for joining Russia. On March 18, 2014, the so-called agreement on the accession of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to Russia was signed in the Kremlin. The West did not recognize the annexation in response to which sanctions against Russia were introduced. Ukraine's parliament voted to designate February 20, 2014, as the official date when the temporary occupation of Crimea began.