Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said the government will not discuss the status of Crimea whoever becomes president in Ukraine.
"As for mentioning Crimea in this context, we also consider it inadmissible, since the issue of Crimea is not subject to discussion at all. This is a topic that has been closed once and for all. Moreover, the words 'occupation' or 'annexation' are absolutely inapplicable to Crimea, either de facto or de jure," Peskov told journalists on Monday, an UNIAN correspondent in Russia reports.
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The spokesman claims the Crimea developments were "in strict accordance with the laws of Ukraine and based on international law."
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.
