Russia has no intention to pay compensation for Crimea, senior MP says

Russian Politics & Diplomacy October 10, 2017, 21:49

The Czech president said earlier that Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s decision on handing over Crimea to Ukraine in 1954 was a mistake

MOSCOW, October 10. /TASS/. Russia is not going to pay any compensation for Crimea, including compensation to Ukraine as Czech President Milos Zeman has suggested, the chairman of the Russian State Duma’s Committee for International Affairs, Leonid Slutsky, said on Tuesday.

"Crimea is already an accomplished fact," the Czech leader said at a session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), adding that Russia could pay compensation to Ukraine "in financial form or in oil and gas."

"We can only welcome the statement of Czech President Milos Zeman who acknowledged in actual fact Crimea’s accession to Russia as a fait accompli. However, his suggestion to pay compensation to Ukraine in this or that form is wide open to criticism," Slutsky told reporters. "Russia will not pay anything to anyone," the senior parliamentarian stressed.

Speaking at the PACE session, the Czech politician said Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s decision on handing over Crimea to Ukraine in 1954 was a mistake. "Nikita Khrushchev made an unpardonable stupid thing, and many politicians acknowledge today that Crimea cannot be returned to Ukraine," Zeman said.

Zeman cited former German President Joachim Gauck as saying: "If we want to take Crimea and return it to Ukraine, this would mean a European war." According to Zeman, this is impossible.

"We should avoid a European war, and you should understand this," he said.

Following the February 2014 coup d’etat in Kiev, the authorities of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol held a referendum on March 16, 2014, on reunification with Russia after sixty years under the sway of Ukraine. More than 80% of registered voters came to the polls and of that number, 96.7% in Crimea and 95.6% in Sevastopol voted in favor of reunification.

On March 18, 2014, President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty on accession of the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to the Russian Federation, and both houses of Russian parliament ratified it on March 21.

Read more on the site →