SIMFEROPOL, May 16. /TASS/. The resolution under which control of Crimea was transferred to Ukraine back in 1954 was legally void, and the right move would be to annul it, a Russian senator told TASS on Tuesday, adding that the Federation Council (upper parliament house) supports this initiative.

Earlier in the day, speaker of Crimea’s legislature, the Crimean State Council, Vladimir Konstantinov announced a decision to appeal to the Russian Constitutional Court requesting to annul the decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet on the transfer of the Crimean Region from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic dated February 19, 1954.

"The issue that was raised today by the Crimean Supreme Council has geopolitical significance and as a senator, I <…> support this initiative," said Olga Kovitidi who represents Crimea in the upper parliament house. "It (this initiative - TASS) has already been advanced by [Crimean] parliament speaker Vladimir Konstantinov and Federation Council speaker Valentina Matviyenko more than once. This issue was discussed with my colleague Sergey Tsekov. <…> I am proud of this decision, I think it is fair and I am convinced that the time will come when this decision will be shared not only by Russia, Belarus, and the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization, a post-Soviet Russia-led security bloc - TASS) but by the world community."

According to the senator, the legal acts under which Crimea was transferred to Ukraine "are legally void."

"As we remember, the decision was made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and approved by the presidiums of the Supreme Soviets of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, and only post hoc by the USSR Supreme Soviet. This decision was endorsed by the Central Committee of the Communist Party, which makes [Nikita] Khrushchev’s (the Communist Party leader from 1953-1964 - TASS) ‘gift’ legally void. Such decisions went beyond party lines and needed to be made in compliance with the Soviet Union’s laws. No such resolutions were passed," she explained.

Ukraine, in her words, demonstrated a cynical attitude to Crimea’s people and ignored the results of the 1991 referendum on the region’s status. "The USSR’s first referendum was held in Crimea on January 20, 1991. More than 93% of Crimeans voted for the establishment of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and constituent entity of the Soviet Union and an independent participant in the Union Treaty. This decision was totally ignored. <…> The legal violations with respect to Crimea are obvious," she stressed.