MOSCOW, March 13. /TASS/. The US House of Representatives’ approval of a bill prohibiting the Washington administration’s recognition of Crimea as part of Russia, won’t impact the peninsula’s real status, Russian Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Konstantin Kosachev wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday.
"The approval by the House of Representatives of the US Congress of a bill prohibiting the United States’ recognition of Crimea as Russia’s territory will certainly have neither consequences for Crimea’s real status nor for international situation around it," Kosachev said.
According to Kosachev, the US understands that the Black Sea peninsula can be considered as part of Ukraine only in "senseless acts." The senator also laughed at the bill’s title ‘‘Crimea Annexation Non-recognition Act,’’ saying that Moscow does not either regard Crimea’s voluntary and legitimate reunification with Russia as annexation.
The bill, submitted to the US Congress on January 16 and endorsed on March 12, prohibits all US federal agencies from taking any action that recognizes de jure or de facto Russia’s sovereignty over Crimea, its airspace, or its territorial waters.
The text says that the president can waive this subsection if he decides that it is vital to US national security interests to do so. If the Senate backs the initiative, it will be sent to the president for a signature.
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 the Kiev authorities who seized 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 96.7% of Crimeans and 95.6% of Sevastopol voters chose to secede from Ukraine and join Russia. The Russian president signed the reunification deals on March 18, 2014. The document was ratified by Russia’s national legislature, the Federal Assembly, on March 21, 2014. Despite the convincing results of the referendum, Kiev refused to recognize Crimea as part of Russia.