The building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kiev. File photoKYIV, Jan 22The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine issued a demand to the government of Germany to publicly refute the statements of the commander of the country's Navy, Kai-Achim Schönbach, that Crimea would never return to Ukraine, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko. Germany Kai-Achim Schönbach. The Crimean peninsula can only be lost in the imagination of a German Vice Admiral. Crimea will certainly return thanks to the hard efforts of Ukraine and its partners,» Nikolenko wrote on his Facebook page.«We demand a public refutation of the statements of the commander of the Navy by the German government, which undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and undermine efforts to de-escalate the situation in Europe,» he added. According to him, even an attempt to understand Russian President Vladimir Putin by the commander of the German Navy should have their own moral and political security limits. Crimea became a Russian region after a referendum held there in March 2014, in which 96.77% of Crimean voters and 95.6% of Sevastopol residents voted for joining Russia. Ukraine still considers Crimea its own, but temporarily occupied territory. The Russian leadership has repeatedly stated that the inhabitants of Crimea democratically, in full accordance with international law and the UN Charter, voted for reunification with Russia. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the issue of Crimea is «finally closed».
