Russia's Crimea recognition demands: What's really behind them
Photo: Vladimir Putin, dictator of Russia (Getty Images)
The Russian Federation demands to recognize Crimea as part of its territory in order to disrupt negotiations on ending the full-scale war, said Borys Babin, an expert from the “Reintegration of Crimea” Association in the material by RBC-Ukraine "Trump changing the game: Why Crimea suddenly came up in peace talks".
"These are demands simply to derail the negotiations and to sign off on the aggressive nature of the Russian regime because they contradict international law. It’s the same as demanding to extinguish the sun. That’s why they make them fully aware that no one will even seriously discuss it," the expert stated.
He added that European leaders, as well as part of US President Donald Trump’s entourage, understand the tactics of the Russians. But judging by the shifting statements of the President of the United States of America, the struggle for his position continues.
According to Babin, the talks about recognizing Crimea played more in Ukraine's favor, since they demonstrated to the world that dictator Vladimir Putin does not want peace. At the same time, the US plans to end the war as soon as possible could eventually leave the extremely difficult issue of Crimea outside the scope of substantive negotiations.
Issue of Crimea
Crimea is a peninsula in the south of Ukraine. In 2014, Russia occupied it by holding a so-called referendum under the pressure of military presence. The international community did not recognize this annexation as legitimate, and most countries still consider Crimea to be part of Ukraine.
Recently, Reuters published a U.S. “peace plan.” The American and Ukrainian-European documents are largely similar to each other, but there are also significant differences. According to Washington’s idea, the United States plans to recognize Crimea as Russian at the legal level.
