Deputy of the State Duma of Russia from the Republic of Crimea Mikhail Sheremet responded to the invitation of Ukraine to a summit on the status of the peninsula. His words are reported by RIA Novosti.
“The issue of Crimea has been closed once and for all and will not be raised. This is out of the question. Kiev is well aware of this, but continues to speculate. All this is a waste of time and people’s money,” the deputy said. According to him, any international formats such as the Crimean Platform project are doomed to failure and hopeless, and Russia is “absolutely not interested in any formats and platforms.”
Earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba invited Russia to take part in the summit of the Crimean Platform project. He explained that the topic of the talks will be one – “the modality of Russia’s withdrawal from the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol and the restoration of Ukraine’s sovereignty and jurisdiction in this territory.”
Crimea was reunited with Russia in March 2014 after a referendum, in which the majority of the inhabitants of the peninsula supported this decision. Ukraine considers it an occupation.