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Crimea not to appeal for help to Russia for time being

MOSCOW, February 20. /ITAR-TASS/. Crimea will not ask Russia for help for the time being, the parliament speaker of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea within Ukraine, Vladimir Konstantinov, told reporters after a meeting with Russian lawmakers of the United Russia faction at the State Duma on Thursday.

Answering a question on whether the time had come for Crimea to seek help from Russia, Konstantinov said that “everyone should travel a long way that is already written down in his destiny.”

“And if you go through this with dignity as a human, as a citizen, that is another pair of shoes,” he said. “But if you do nothing, then no one will do anything for your sake.”

“The Autonomous Republic of Crimea has enough power to solve the problems on its own,” he said. “And we will solve them by our own means.”

Crimea, Ukraine’s southernmost region in the Black Sea littoral area that has the status of an autonomous republic within Ukraine, will stand up for the central power, Konstantinov said.

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Clashes in Kiev: violence outbreak hours after truce

Speaker of the Russian State Duma lower parliament house Sergei Naryshkin met with his counterpart from the parliament of Ukraine’s Crimean autonomy Vladimir Konstantinov on Thursday to discuss the situation in Ukraine.

“We discussed the situation in Ukraine and aspects of cooperation between the Russian State Duma and the Crimean Supreme Council,” Naryshkin told journalists after the meeting. Apart from that, he said, they had exchanged views on issues of cooperation in the humanitarian sphere, and the preparations for the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the victory in WWII.

Earlier on Thursday, the Ukrainian politician met with representatives from the Duma’s four factions and had a separate meeting with chairman of the State Duma committee for the affairs of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Eurasian integration and relations with compatriots Leonid Slutsky.

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