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Kremlin official convinced that Odessa’s future not linked to Kiev regime

Nikolay Patrushev noted that "residents of Ukrainian regions, including Black Sea coastal areas, should be given an opportunity to decide on their future"

MOSCOW, April 24. /TASS/. The vast majority of Odessa residents have nothing in common with the Kiev regime, Russian presidential aide and Maritime Board Chairman Nikolay Patrushev told TASS in an interview.

"Our country respects the will of the people. This was demonstrated during the accession of Crimea, Sevastopol, Donbass and Novorossia," he said, when asked whether Russia was laying a claim on Ukrainian ports, planning to discuss it during the settlement process.

Patrushev said that "residents of Ukrainian regions, including Black Sea coastal areas, should be given an opportunity to decide on their future."

"I don’t think they connect their future to neo-Nazism. They don’t want to feebly obey the illegitimate Kiev government," the presidential aide said. "I believe that Odessa and the majority of its residents have nothing in common with the Kiev regime."

He went on to say that Odessa was founded by Russian Empress Catherine II the Great and remained Russia’s stronghold in the Black Sea for more than two centuries.

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