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Giving Crimea to Nazis who staged coup in Kiev would be criminal — Lavrov

Lavrov said the arguments against Crimea’s reunification with Russia are in line with the assertions that Leningrad should have been surrendered to Nazis during WWII

MOSCOW, August 11. /TASS/. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said giving Crimea to the Nazis who organized the coup in Kiev would be a crime.

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Russian diplomat advises West to stop obsessing over Crimea

"I believe giving Crimea to the Nazis who have organized the coup in Kiev, and thus the new leaders came to power would be a crime," he said at a meeting with the participants in the Russian Educational Youth Forum dubbed Terra Scientia on the Klyazma on Friday.

"There are some people here who say that Crimea should not have been incorporated into Russia, that we should not have helped the militiamen in the Donbass region and that we should not have begun a military operation in Syria," Lavrov said. "You know, it is also mentioning what awaited ethnic Russians, the Russian-speaking population in Crimea and in eastern Ukraine when Dmitry Yarosh (leader of the Right Sector group, outlawed in Russia - TASS) said in late February [2014], after that coup, even before they were mulling a referendum in Crimea, that an ethnic Russian will never be able to understand an ethnic Ukrainian, will never speak Ukrainian, therefore, there should be no ethnic Russians in Crimea."

According to Lavrov, the arguments against Crimea’s reunification with Russia are in line with the assertions that Leningrad should have been surrendered to Nazis during WWII. "Remember, there was a dispute recently, someone on some TV channel in Russia, liberal, as far as I remember, started elaborating on the issue and said that Leningrad should not have been defended, and it would be easier to surrender it to avoid fatalities. I believe this is in line with the statements that ethnic Russians in Crimea and Donbass should have been left in the lurch."

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Ukraine crisis Crimea and Sevastopol Sergey Lavrov

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