Kremlin Closely Follows Ukrainian Presidential Candidates' Statements On Russia, Donbas

Faizan Hashmi Published April 01, 2019 | 03:11 PM

The Kremlin closely follows statements made by Ukrainian presidential candidates in relation to Russia and the breakaway Donbas region, located in the east of Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st April, 2019) The Kremlin closely follows statements made by Ukrainian presidential candidates in relation to Russia and the breakaway Donbas region, located in the east of Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

"We follow the candidates' statements closely, especially those related to our country and bilateral relations [between Russia and Ukraine]. We also closely follow the candidates' statements on their vision of the future of Donbas, and we draw conclusions," Peskov told reporters.

Peskov also stressed that Russia had not occupied the Crimean peninsula either de jure or de facto, as he was commenting on a related statement by Ukrainian presidential candidate comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who is currently leading with over 30 percent of votes, after over 70 percent of ballots were counted.

"As for mentioning Crimea in this context, we consider this inadmissible, since the topic of Crimea is not subject to discussion at all.

This topic has been closed once and for all. Moreover, such words as 'occupation' or 'annexation' are absolutely non-applicable either de jure or de facto in relation to Crimea. Everything that happened in Crimea was done in strict compliance both with the Ukrainian legislation and the international law," Peskov said.

He added that Moscow was ready to explain to everyone that it did not occupy any of Ukrainian territories.

Crimea rejoined Russia on March 18, 2014, after 97 percent of those participating in a regional referendum voted for the reunification. Ukraine and the majority of Western countries continue to consider Crimea as a Ukrainian territory, accusing Russia of illegally annexing it. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the issue of Crimea's territorial belonging was "historically closed," since Crimean residents decided to rejoin Russia in accordance with democratic procedures.