On July 28, Russian President Vladimir Putin made
Crimea and Sevastopol part of the Southern Federal District
The United
States will not change its policy on Russia-occupied Crimea regardless of the Kremlin's decision to
'annihilate' the peninsula autonomy.
This
was stated by US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey R. Pyatt during the telephone talks with
journalists as part of the communication project Brussels hub, the Ukrainian
news outlet Yevropesika
Pravda reports.
"This decision
does not matter anything for the US. We do not recognize the annexation of
Crimea and the fact who is governor of Sevastopol or Crimea will not make
us change our sanction policy. We announced before and further believe
that Crimea is an integral part of Ukraine," Yevropeiska Pravda
quoted Pyatt as saying.
He did
not comment on the assumption that Crimea's merging with Russia's
Southern federal district may mean extending sanctions against the
whole Federal District.
US
Ambassador to OSCE Daniel Baer, who also participated in the phone talks said
that "Russia's attempt to redraw the borders" will continue to top
the US-Russia relations agenda.
On July
28, Russian President Vladimir Putin abolished the Crimean federal district by
making Crimea and Sevastopol part of Russia's Southern federal district. Under
the president's decree, the District now consists of Adygea, Kalmykia, Crimea,
Krasnodar Territory, Astrakhan region, Volgograd region, Rostov region and
Sevastopol.
The
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry expressed its protest over such a decision, and
stated that Crimea remains a Ukrainian territory.
Crimea's merging with
the Southern federal district, according to Moscow's plan, will allow the
Kremlin to be more flexible when evading sanctions imposed over economic
operations with the annexed peninsula, by manipulating the jurisdiction of
business entities. The possibility of expanding the sanctions towards the whole
Southern federal district is rather small.
Crimea peninsula was seized from Ukraine
by Russia in February 2014. Ukraine's Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) officially
declared February 20, 2014, a beginning of Russia's illegal occupation of
Crimea and Sevastopol. Numerous world leaders strongly condemned the illegal
annexation and launched a range of economic sanctions against Russia.
Despite the overall resentment, Moscow
rejects the notion "occupation", naming its deeds instead "a
renewal of historical justice".
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