MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/. Russia’s opponents continue their attempts to isolate Crimea, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to accomplish this task, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of the Black Sea peninsula’s reunification with Russia.

"The attempts of isolating Crimea continue, but it’s becoming more difficult for our opponents to pursue this policy," Zakharova stated.

According to the diplomat, opinion polls carried out in the Black Sea peninsula confirm "a positive atmosphere of inter-ethnic and inter-religious relations there." "Against this background, any attempts of disrupting social and political stability in Crimea are doomed to failure," the statement reads.

Crimea is a Russian region that is "mostly subjected to foreign destructive influence," but it has been successfully overcoming all difficulties, Zakharova noted. "The task to counter blatantly unfriendly Russophobic policy requires consolidated efforts, comprehensive political and legal, financial and economic, information and propaganda, and cultural and humanitarian measures. In view of this, over the past time the country’s leadership and Crimean citizens have made a great effort," she stressed.

Looking back with hindsight over Crimea’s decision to rejoin Russia six years ago, we, according to Maria Zakharova, can conclude that there were no alternatives to that move "amid the tense situation unfolding around the peninsula." "As a result, Crimea did not fall victim to radical nationalists but, having joined Russia, it avoided social and political turbulence seen in the post-Maidan Ukraine. Crimea escaped the fate of becoming a testing range for NATO forces’ maneuvers aimed against our country," the diplomat explained.

"Numerous foreign guests arriving in the peninsula have a chance to assess without bias the efforts of federal and regional authorities on improving living conditions of Crimeans, bolstering inter-religious peace and protecting national minorities’ rights," Zakharova added, recalling that more than 70 important international events were held in Crimea and Sevastopol in 2019.