SIMFEROPOL, March 19. /TASS/. Crimean Head Sergei Aksenov called Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko’s statements about measures that are to be taken to ‘return’ the peninsula to Ukraine as nothing but jive talk.
"The statements by Ukrainian politicians, who have been "taking back" Crimea for five years already, look especially stupid amid the great success of the Russian peninsula and Ukraine’s rapid degradation… So, all their statements have been and will remain hot air," he wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.
In a live broadcast on Ukraine’s ICTV on Monday evening, Poroshenko laid out what he meant by Kiev’s political and diplomatic measures in its pursuit to re-impose its rule on Crimea. Essentially, the Ukrainian president seeks to tighten the sanction regime against Moscow.
Following a coup d’etat in Kiev in February 2014, the Crimean and Sevastopol authorities decided to hold a referendum on Crimea’s reintegration with Russia. More than 80% people with the right to vote took part in the referendum that was held on March 16, 2014. The reunification with Russia was backed by 96.7% of Crimeans and 95.6% of Sevastopol residents. On March 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an agreement on the accession of Crimea and Sevastopol to the Russian Federation, and on March 21 the document was ratified by the Federal Assembly. Despite the convincing results of the referendum, Kiev refused to recognize Crimea as part of Russia.