Crimean Residents' Lives Improved After Reunification With Russia - Serbian Lawmakers

Parliamentarians from the Serbian Radical Party told Sputnik that Crimea's reunification with Russia has become an important event for the country's renovation, adding that the life of the peninsula's residents has improved since the reunification

BELGRADE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th March, 2019) Parliamentarians from the Serbian Radical Party told Sputnik that Crimea's reunification with Russia has become an important event for the country's renovation, adding that the life of the peninsula's residents has improved since the reunification.

March marks the fifth anniversary of the peninsula's reunification with Russia as a result of a referendum. Aleksandar Seselj, the deputy chairman of the party and the son of its leader, Vojislav Seselj, visited the peninsula with a group of other Serbian lawmakers in 2017.

"I think that this is a feast of democracy. We could see in practice how the will of people is being fulfilled. I saw with my eyes that people who live in Crimea are satisfied that their democratic will is being observed and that they are currently full-fledged citizens of Russia. I can also note that since March 2014, large infrastructure projects have been launched. I saw works at the airport and at the new bridge and it is obvious that people's lives in Crimea are improving, " the deputy chairman of the party told Sputnik.

The politician added that he had seen that "Russians, Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians expressed their will at the referendum" which is not shown by western media outlets.

"I am deeply convinced that Crimea's reunification with mother Russia was joyful news for Russian people and all Slavic peoples, primarily Serbians. But we believe that it is just the beginning of the renovation of the great Russian state and integration of all Orthodox Christian Slavs. I hope that the Serbian state will soon take an active part in this," Vojislav Seselj told Sputnik.

Crimea rejoined Russia in 2014 as a result of a vote at which over 96 percent of the peninsula's residents backed the option. The move was, however, opposed by Ukraine and the West, which imposed sanctions on Moscow. The transition followed what many considered to be a coup to topple Ukrainian then-President Viktor Yanukovych.

Russia has insisted that the Crimean referendum was carried out in line with international norms.