Moscow considers Kiev's threats to be a “hellish” scenario in Crimea as unconstructive. RIA Novosti was informed about this by a source in the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The interlocutor of the agency said that Moscow assesses such statements by the Ukrainian Foreign Minister as an attempt to curry favor on the anti-Russian topic. “The goal set by the Ukrainian authorities is to bring as much harm to Crimea as possible,” a source in the foreign ministry said. At the same time, the interlocutor of the publication stressed that the prospects for such activities on the part of Ukraine are zero, and Crimea will remain Russian regardless of the actions taken by Kiev.
Earlier, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmitry Kuleba in an interview with TSN threatened in 2021 to initiate the strengthening of international sanctions against Russia on the status of the Crimean peninsula. According to him, the main lever of pressure on Moscow should be the so-called “Crimean Platform” – an international negotiating platform for the return of the peninsula to Kiev's authority. He stated that the topic of Crimea should become “hellish” for Russia.
On September 23, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky presented the concept of the Crimean Platform to the UN and invited the international community to join the initiative. With the help of it, the Ukrainian side is going to tackle the problems of the economy and ecology, “the protection of the rights of the Crimean people and the de-occupation of the peninsula.” The Crimean Platform summit is scheduled for May 2021 in Kiev.
Crimea was reunited with Russia following a March 2014 referendum in which the majority of the peninsula's residents voted in support of the decision. Ukraine refused to recognize the results of the referendum. Russia insists that the accession procedure was in accordance with international law.
