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German MP urges ways of settling Crimean status

One of the options is to hold a new referendum on Crimea with the participation of international observers and the results of which would be recognized by the international community

MOSCOW, May 26. /TASS/. Ways of settling the status of Crimea should be found rather than demanding its return to Ukraine like most Western politicians and mass media do, a German MP from the Left Party and the country’s representative to the PACE said on Tuesday.

"A way towards the internationally recognized status of Crimea should be found," Andrej Hunko told a press conference hosted by TASS. "But Western media don’t even have discussions on this issue besides the statements that Crimea should be returned to Ukraine."

One of the options of resolving the differences is to hold a new referendum on Crimea with the participation of international observers and the results of which would be recognized by the international community, Hunko said.

"But in my opinion, politicians in the West now first of all are not trying to find the ways out but are just laying the whole blame on Russia and leading to the escalation of the situation," he said.

"In this situation, any proposal on settling the status of Crimea and Donbass is a step in a right direction," he stressed.

Crimea's reunification with Russia

The Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, a city with a special status on the Crimean Peninsula, where most residents are Russians, refused to recognize the legitimacy of authorities brought to power amid riots during a coup in Ukraine in February 2014.

Crimea and Sevastopol adopted declarations of independence on March 11. They held a referendum on March 16, in which 96.77% of Crimeans and 95.6% of Sevastopol voters chose to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the reunification deals March 18.

In the Soviet Union, Crimea used to be part of Russia until 1954, when Nikita Khrushchev, the first secretary of the USSR’s Communist Party, transferred it to Ukraine's jurisdiction as a gift.

Work to integrate the Crimean Peninsula into Russia’s economic, financial, credit, legal, state power, military conscription and infrastructure systems is actively underway now that Crimea has accessed to the Russian Federation.

Despite Moscow’s repeated statements that the Crimean referendum on secession from Ukraine was in line with the international law and the UN Charter and in conformity with the precedent set by Kosovo’s secession from Serbia in 2008, the West and Kiev have refused to recognize the legality of Crimea’s reunification with Russia.