Russia Announced about the Completion of the Integration of Crimea

Dmitry Balakin, Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the OSCE, said at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council that Crimea had completed integration into Russian society, Russian Permanent Mission to the OSCE reports. “Life has confirmed the correctness of the choice of the Crimean citizens. At present, it is safe to say that its integration into the general political, legal, social and economic space of Russia has been completed”, he said. Balakin added that the statements about the “annexation” of the Crimea and the need to return it to Ukraine express “extreme disrespect” to the population of the peninsula. According to the Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the OSCE, Crimean residents are being punished for their political choice. In particular, he noted that Western countries denied them visas, and there are restrictions on the work of international business on the peninsula. “The will of the people of Crimea, expressed in 2014, allowed them to avoid the horrors of the civil war - that for nearly five years, the Kyiv authorities have been doing in the Donbas”, Balakin stressed. Both the United States and the EU countries did not recognize the legitimacy of the entry of Crimea into Russia and imposed sanctions against the peninsula. In July 2017, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly adopted a resolution calling on Moscow to stop the “occupation” of the Ukrainian territories and return the peninsula to Kyiv’s control. Source: RBC