SIMFEROPOL, June 10 Speaker of the Crimean Parliament Vladimir Konstantinov called it nonsense the plan of the Kiev authorities to seize the Crimea and urged not to pay attention to their statements.
Earlier, Andriy Yusov, a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, told Ukrayinska Pravda that since the active phase of hostilities is now underway, it is wrong to discuss specific dates for the capture of Crimea, but this will be done when «it will be warm.»
«Crimea is under the reliable protection of our armed forces. And regarding the recent statements of representatives of the Kiev regime, the more we pay attention to all sorts of their verbiage, the more we allow them to fill with non-existent significance at our expense. Let our they disperse nonsense only according to their own resources,» Konstantinov said.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters that the counter-offensive of Ukrainian troops had begun, as evidenced by the use of strategic reserves by Kiev. He noted that all counteroffensive attempts made by Kiev failed, but the offensive potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was still preserved.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has previously stated that Western countries demand that Kyiv continue offensive operations, although they understand that such plans are doomed to failure. According to the Foreign Ministry, «over all these years, the» collective West «, which has nurtured the neo-Nazi Kiev regime, has made it an obedient instrument with which it is vainly trying to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, today Western countries demand from Kiev to continue offensive operations and occupy the territory of new Russian regions, although they understand that such plans are doomed to failure, they are indifferent to the fact that the cost of such a policy is the lives of thousands of innocent people.
Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev noted that a possible attack on Crimea would mean an escalation of the conflict, and called on the Ukrainian authorities to understand that such attacks would meet «inevitable retribution» using any type of weapon. The Russian army is able to repel the Ukrainian counteroffensive, the Russian Federation should not be underestimated, Colonel Markus Reisner, military strategist at the Austrian Ministry of Defense, said earlier. In Crimea, Kyiv's plans to attack were called an adventure by the West, which would be a colossal tragedy for Ukraine.
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».