MOSCOW, February 4. /TASS/. Attempts to contest Crimea’s choice to reunify with Russia that was made in strict compliance with the norms of international law are absurd, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Italy’s Limes monthly magazine.
"The February 2014 state coup entailed a collapse of Ukrainian statehood and the ultra-nationalists who came to power unleashed a fratricidal war and drove the country to the brink of a split," he said. "It is obvious that the free expression of will of Crimea’s population who voted in a referendum for independence from Ukraine and reunion with Russia was just a reaction to those developments."
The Russian top diplomat reminded in this connection that "many European countries found it possible to recognize Kosovo’s independence despite the fact that no referendum on secession from Serbia had been held in this territory."
"Developments in Donbass have vividly demonstrated what kind of plight the Crimeans might have faced had the region not reunified with Russia. No price can be too high here," Lavrov stressed.