YALTA, April 18 Confrontation between Russia and the West reached a climax, said Vladimir Konstantinov, head of the Crimean parliament.
«The confrontation is underway and it looks like we are living in the climax of this confrontation, the result of which will be colossal civilizational changes,» Konstantinov told a journalist on the sidelines of an international scientific and political conference dedicated to the 240th anniversary of the annexation of Crimea and Kuban to the Russian Empire.
According to him, the nature of the forthcoming changes in international life is difficult to predict.
«It is always difficult to live in a period of change. We assume something like a fault line. This is the departure of the dollar, the change in the influence of the unipolar world, the transition to a multipolar world. There are more questions than answers, we are only at the beginning of the path,» Konstantinov said.
On April 19 (Old Style 8), 1783, Empress Catherine II signed the highest manifesto «on the acceptance of the Crimean peninsula, the island of Taman and the entire Kuban side under the Russian state.» Thus, the Crimean Peninsula and the territory of the modern Krasnodar Territory became part of the Russian state. In Russia, this day is declared a memorable date.
Crimea became a Russian region in March 2014 following a referendum following a coup in Ukraine. In the 2014 referendum, 96.77% of voters in Crimea and 95.6% in Sevastopol were in favor of joining Russia. Ukraine still considers Crimea its temporarily occupied territory, many Western countries support Kyiv on this issue. For its part, the Russian leadership has repeatedly stated that the inhabitants of Crimea voted for democratic reunification with Russia, in full compliance with international law and the UN Charter. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the issue of Crimea «is finally closed.»