MOSCOW, June 19. /ITAR-TASS/. The United States is interested in Crime’s being a part of Russia, since this fact could be used as an element of pressure on Russia, Elmar Nasirov, the director of the Institute of Political Studies of Academy of State Administration under the Azerbaijani president, said on Thursday.

“The issue of Crimea has been closed, now the United States and Europe are taking efforts not to let Ukraine’s southeastern regions split off from the rest of Ukraine,” he said at an international conference entitled The Caspian Region in the Context of the Crisis of the International System of Law and Security.

Participants in the conference paid much attention to the situation in Ukraine. Experts agreed that after the Ukrainian development the entire system of international security was plunged into a profound crisis. “International law is impeding the West, since it is based on respect to common interests. The Ukrainian crisis proves such words,” Sergei Mikheyev, the director general of the Institute of Caspian Cooperation, said.

“Ukraine is in for a series of further political crises,” said Guylnara Mamedzade, the director of the Azerbaijani branch of the Institute of Caspian Cooperation. “The country is unlikely to become a full-fledged part of any strategies and will be searching for its path of development at least for another five years.