SIMFEROPOL, March 16. /TASS/. Crimea's head Sergey Aksyonov said in an interview with TASS that he considered the recognition of the Russian status of Crimea by the leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries to be logical.

"Alexander Grigorievich (Lukashenko, the president of Belarus - TASS) has already stated that Crimea is de facto and de jure Russian. As for the official recognition, Dmitry Peskov clearly said that Belarus, as our ally and partner, would independently make the appropriate decision when it deems it appropriate. In my opinion, there is nothing to add here. The same applies to the other CIS countries. I think it would be logical to expect such steps from our closest allies. For our part, we will be glad to accept Alexander Grigorievich and other leaders in Crimea," Aksenov said.

He noted that "recognition by foreign states is not some super-relevant issue for the Crimeans." "As you know, a number of our friends - Nicaragua, Cuba, Syria, South Ossetia, Abkhazia - have recognized our peninsula as part of Russia. Given that Russia's demands in negotiations with Ukraine include recognition of Crimea's Russian status, we can expect some progress," Aksenov believes.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said in late 2021 that he intended to visit Crimea with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Crimea said it would welcome Lukashenko's visit. According to the Head of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov, this decision by the Belarusian leader "is quite in line with the spirit of brotherly relations between the peoples" of Russia and Belarus.