The European Union does not recognize the annexation in Crimea, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said at a joint press conference in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Monday.
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”We also exchanged on something that maybe you could refer to as systemic disagreements… which is the position of the European Union of not recognizing the annexation of Crimea – this is a principled position we are going to keep – not only the European Union but also other partners we have in the world,” Mogherini said.
”For sure we have a different assessment of the conflict in eastern Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea,” said the High Commissioner.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has compared the occupied Crimea with the Falkland Islands, according to an UNIAN correspondent in the Russian Federation.
”Since [EU High Commissioner] Federica [Mogherini] has pronounced the word ”Crimea”, Crimea is part of the Russian Federation in full accordance with the will of the people of Crimea,” Lavrov said at a joint press conference with High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini.
”And I have not heard that the EU has challenged the statements that many British Prime Ministers made when it came to the Falkland Islands and Britain was approached by the UN General Assembly resolutions that argued about the need for Argentina and Britain to sit down at the table. There was only one answer from London: no one has the right to challenge the right of the Falkland Islands to self-determination,” Russia`s top diplomat said.
”We ask for at least the same attitude toward the people of Crimea who are much closer to Russia,” he said.
The European Union also hopes for the full implementation of the Minsk Agreements stated Mogherini.
”But we have also on that crisis exchanged views on how we can move forward on an agreed road map, which is the full implementation of the Minsk Agreements by all sides both on the security and on the political aspects. And we believe in the European Union that this is even more urgent to do after the death of one of the OSCE monitors yesterday in the east of Ukraine,” Mogherini said.
She added that she had discussed with Mr Lavrov ways in which they ”can work together more to guarantee full implementation of the Minsk Agreements by all sides and ways to put an end to the conflict in east of Ukraine.”
