White House: sanctions against Russia will remain in force, until Crimea again will not belong to Ukraine


WASHINGTON, July 2. / TASS /. The administration of US President Donald Trump will not go to the abolition of sanctions imposed on Russia for the reunification of the Crimea with Russia, until Crimea again will not belong to Ukraine. This was stated on Monday at a regular briefing for journalists by the White House press secretary Sarah Sanders.

"We do not recognize Russia's attempt to annex Crimea, our sanctions against Russia for the Crimea will remain in force until Russia returns the peninsula to Ukraine," she said. According to Sanders, the United States and Russia "agreed to disagree on this issue" with each other.

Last Friday, Trump said that at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which will be held in Helsinki on July 16, intends to touch on the topic of the peninsula. Commenting on these words of the head of the US administration, Dmitry Peskov, the presidential press secretary, told reporters on Monday that for Moscow the question of recognizing Crimea as a Russian territory in the agenda of discussions in the international arena can not be.

"The Russian president has repeatedly stated and explained to his interlocutors that there can not be and never will be an issue on the agenda of the Crimea, because Crimea is an integral part of Russia. All other issues are issues of consensus, issues for discussion and search possible points of contact, "Peskov pointed out.

After the coup in Kiev in February 2014, the authorities of the Crimea and Sevastopol decided to hold a referendum on reunification with Russia. More than 80% of eligible voters took part in the voting, which took place on March 16 of the same year, and 96.7% and 95.6% of the residents of Crimea and Sevastopol voted for reunification with Russia, respectively. On March 18, the Russian president signed an agreement on the admission of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol to the Russian Federation, and on March 21 the document was ratified by the Federal Assembly. Despite the results of the referendum, Kiev refused to recognize Crimea as part of Russia.