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Crimea and Sevastopol

Putin lambasts states that refuse to issue visas to Crimeans as human rights violators

Speaking about the reasons that prompted Crimea’s residents to seek reunification with Russia, the president recalled the 2014 coup in Ukraine

© Alexei Pavlishak/TASS

MOSCOW, March 15. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed some countries’ refusal to issue visas to residents of Crimea as a human rights violation.

"Our so-called partners are making every effort to ‘sting’ the Crimeans. This is linked to the visa policy and so on. Everyone talks about human rights, meanwhile visa issuance to Crimeans has essentially been blocked. Are they being punished for their choice? What does that look like from the perspective of human rights? Isn’t all that double standards?" the president said in the second part of a new documentary by TV journalist Andrey Kondrashov entitled Putin, uploaded to the VKontakte and Odnoklassniki social networks.

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Russian embassy slams State Department’s Crimea remarks as ‘gut-wrenching and acrimonious’

Speaking about the reasons that prompted Crimea’s residents to seek reunification with Russia, the president recalled the 2014 coup in Ukraine. "Under these circumstances, those who lived in Crimea, grasping or sensing what was happening, particularly against the backdrop of rabid nationalism, made up their minds to return to Russia. Is it really possible that we would not have supported them?" he pointed out.

Putin also assured that under no circumstances, could Russia return Crimea to Ukraine.

"What are you talking about? There are no such circumstances and there will never be," the head of state emphasized.

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Foreign policy Crimea and Sevastopol

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