Crimean head Sergei Aksyonov commented on Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky's words that Crimea will never become Russian territory.
In an interview with the Dom TV channel, the Ukrainian leader recalled visiting Crimea as a child, saying that Russians will never love this region the way Ukrainians do, and that the return of the peninsula to Kiev's control is a matter of time.
Aksenov called this a set of silly, empty and pompous phrases that are not worth a penny.
"The Crimeans have felt the "love" of official Kiev, which is expressed in blockades, constant threats, attempts of sabotage and terrorist attacks, in streams of lies and slander that Ukrainian politicians pour out both inside their country and on international platforms," he wrote in the social network "VKontakte."
Crimea became a Russian region in March 2014 as a result of a referendum held after the coup d'état in Ukraine. 96.77 percent of voters in the Republic of Crimea and 95.6 percent of residents of Sevastopol supported reunification with Russia. Ukraine considers the peninsula its own, but temporarily occupied territory. Moscow has repeatedly stated that the residents of Crimea made the decision democratically, in full compliance with international law and the UN Charter. According to Vladimir Putin, there are "no circumstances under which Crimea could return to Ukraine and there never will be".
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Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from RIA Novosti