The Kremlin ruled out the possibility of holding another referendum in the occupied Crimea, so that the U.S. could cancel anti-Russian sanctions, Vladimir Putin`s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to an UNIAN correspondent in the Russian Federation.
Asked, whether the Kremlin was ready for any deal with the U.S. on Crimea and, in particular, if it could hold another referendum in exchange for sanctions lift, Peskov said: ”No, there can`t be [any other referendum]. It`s out of the question.
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Earlier, the Embassy of Ukraine in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland expected explanations from a member of the UK House of Lords Richard Balfe, regarding his statement in an interview with the Russian newspaper Izvestia that the occupied Crimea is a ”historic part of Russia” and that Moscow ”realized this desire [of the peninsular inhabitants] and returned Crimea.”
”We would like to note that the whole civilized world, including all the major international organizations, has already acknowledged the fact that Russia has brutally and cowardly annexed Crimea, where nowadays it resorts to systematic violations of human rights, seeking to destroy the identity of Ukrainians and the indigenous people of the peninsula, the Crimean Tatars,” the embassy said.