WASHINGTON, July 26. /TASS/. The United States’ Crimea Declaration only proves that Washington is living in another reality, the Russian embassy in the United States wrote on its Facebook account on Wednesday, commenting on US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo’s statement, titled the Crimea Declaration, which reaffirms rejection of Crimea’s reunification with Russia.

"The State Department issues declarations and statements on Crimea once every three months. We have heard nothing new. We have only seen it once again that our partners are living in some other reality. They are trying to operate acts of international laws having provisions on the right of peoples to self-determination, ignoring the fact that these very acts were the bedrock for Crimea’s reunification with Russia in 2014," the embassy said.

"Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians choose Russian Crimea as their vacationing destination, this way dispelling the myth of Russian ‘occupation’ and ‘aggression,’" the embassy stressed. "American musicians and athletes regularly come on tours to the peninsula, despite the State Department’s warnings of non-existent ‘risk.’ More than 90,000 American football fans had a chance during the 2018 FIFA World Cup to see the irrelevance of the State Department’s recommendations not to visit our country and of the image of Russia foisted by the United States’ mainstream media."

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, 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 treaties on March 18, 2014.

Despite the absolutely convincing results of the referendum, Ukraine, the United States and the European Union have been refusing to recognize Crimea as a part of Russia.