MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/. Belarus does not need to adopt additional laws for the recognition of Crimea not only in view of allied relations, but also as a country respecting Russia’s sovereignty, under the UN Charter, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists on Monday.
"Nothing has to be done for this. No laws whatsoever must be adopted. Belarus has not just diplomatic relations with Russia, but allied relations. But even the countries that don’t have this format of relations with Russia, don’t need any special legislative acts to be adopted. If this country interacts with us, it should automatically recognize that Russia has its territory, to which the authorities of the government, the leadership that Russia has, apply," Lavrov said in comments on a statement from Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
"If it was not exactly clear to someone, President Lukashenko said clearly that Crimea is part of Russia de facto and de jure. It was always de facto, and became de jure after the 2014 referendum," the top diplomat said when asked what had to be done for Minsk to formalize its recognition of Crimea.
Earlier, President Lukashenko said that he intended to visit Crimea together with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Crimea’s leadership has already said that the peninsula was looking forward to the visit. Crimean leader Sergey Aksyonov said that this decision by the Belarusian president "was quite in the spirit of brotherly relations between the peoples of Russia and Belarus."
After the Western-backed coup of February 2014 in Ukraine, Crimea and Sevastopol held a referendum, in which 96.7% of all Crimeans and 95.6% of Sevastopol voters chose to secede from Ukraine and join Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the reunification deal on March 18, 2014, which the Federation Council (upper house of the Russian parliament) ratified on March 21, 2014. Despite the convincing results of the referendum, Kiev refused to recognize Crimea as part of Russia.