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Russia rescued Crimea residents from ‘from sinking ship’ in 2014, says diplomat

First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said that "the ship has never stopped sinking"

UNITED NATIONS, March 15. /TASS/. Crimea was incorporated into Russia back in 2014 due to force majeure conditions, and Russia helped its residents escape a sinking ship, Russia's First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said on Friday.

"Crimea’s fate turned out to be predetermined by the policy pursued by the ‘Maidan’ team, which came to power after the coup, and its desire to squeeze the Russian identity out of Ukraine," the diplomat said at a UN meeting dedicated to the fifth anniversary of Crimea’s reunification with Russia. "That is, Crimea’s fate was caused by a kind of force majeure circumstances."

"We rescued people from a sinking ship, if you will," Polyansky stressed. "By the way, the ship has never stopped sinking."

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

Crimea and Sevastopol adopted the declarations of independence on March 11, 2014. They held a referendum on March 16, 2014, 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 treaty on March 18, 2014.