Vacationers walk along the Yalta embankment. Archival photoSIMFEROPOL, May 7.The referendum in Crimea was held legally and justifiably, its current Russian status is indisputable, said Kirill Stremousov, deputy chairman of the military-civilian administration of the Kherson region. During a special operation to demilitarize Ukraine, the Russian military took control of the entire Kherson region in the south of the country and the Azov part of the Zaporozhye region. Civil-military administrations have been formed in the regions, Russian television channels and radio have begun broadcasting, and trade ties with Crimea are being restored. «From a legal point of view, the Crimean referendum was held absolutely legally and justified. Crimea had the right to self-determination and its current Russian status is obvious and indisputable» , — Stremousov told RIA Novosti. According to him, Crimea in 2014 did not follow the line of the fascist elite of the Ukrainian government, which intimidated the Ukrainian people by creating Nazi organizations, and made people believe that the peninsula was supposedly temporarily occupied. «As history has shown , just Ukraine was occupied by Western colonialists, who turned it into a buffer between East and West,» Stremousov emphasized.In the Kherson region, they decided to return the coat of arms of the times of the Russian Empire. According to him, not all of Ukraine opposed the Russian status of Crimea, but a number of officials who followed the instructions of the collective West. what they say about the occupation of Crimea and other territories is all a bluff that has nothing to do with Ukraine and its indigenous people,» Stremousov said. Crimea became a Russian region in March 2014 following a referendum after a coup in Ukraine. In the referendum, 96.77% of voters in Crimea and 95.6% in Sevastopol voted for joining Russia. Ukraine still considers Crimea its own, but temporarily occupied territory, many Western countries support Kyiv in this. 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 President Vladimir Putin, the issue of Crimea is «finally closed.»
