The work on the return of Crimea is a Sisyphean labor, Ruslan Balbek, a State Duma deputy from the region, told Izvestia on March 11.
So he commented on the statement of the chairman of the Estonian parliamentary committee on international affairs, Marko Michelson, who had promised the day before that the country would help Ukraine “return” Crimea. Mikhelson also stressed that Tallinn will never recognize the peninsula as part of Russia.
“If there is nothing else to do, let them try. In general, today the situation in Crimea is steadily stable: it is ours, and the rest are resigned to it. True, there is also a category that is being promoted on this, but, as they say, it is unconvincing. So let them work, write treatises, assure each other of eternal friendship – everything is in vain, Crimea is a stranger to them, ”said the deputy Balbek.
Earlier, on March 10, the First Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN Security Council Dmitry Polyansky said that Russia would hold an informal meeting of the organization on the topic of Crimea on March 17. Representatives of the peninsula will take part in the meeting.
On February 24, Polyansky criticized a statement by his German colleague Christoph Heusgen about alleged human rights violations in Crimea. According to him, “it is much easier to spread fables about the horrors in the allegedly occupied Crimea, while finding out the truth and making sure of the falsity of these fabrications is easier than ever.”
The day before, the UN General Assembly held a meeting dedicated to the situation “in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.” It included Heusgen and Polyansky. The Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Germany expressed concern over the fate of the Crimean Tatars, who, according to him, are being oppressed on the peninsula.
Crimea became part of Russia following the 2014 referendum. 96.77% of the region’s residents and 95.6% of the voters of Sevastopol were in favor of joining. The procedure was carried out in strict accordance with international law. However, Kiev still considers the peninsula to be its temporarily occupied territory. Moscow argued that the issue of the subject’s ownership was closed forever.