MOSCOW, April 5 The number of foreign partners is growing Moscow, which supports the choice of Crimeans and Sevastopol residents to reunite with Russia in 2014, this makes the Russian Federation happy, said the country's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
“We are glad that more and more foreign partners recognize and support the independent choice of the people of Crimea and Sevastopol. Their natural desire to speak their native language and develop their culture,” says Lavrov’s message on the occasion of the event dedicated to the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Crimean spring. The minister’s address was read by the director of the department for relations with the constituent entities of the Federation, parliament and public associations of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Alexander Lukashik.
The minister's message also notes that the decision of the residents of Crimea and Sevastopol to reunite with Russia was “the only correct one.” “This made it possible to protect the life, honor and dignity of Crimeans from the encroachments of the Russophobic regime in Kyiv,” added the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Crimea became a Russian region in March 2014 following the results of a referendum after the coup in Ukraine. In the 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, and many Western countries support Kyiv on this issue. For its part, the Russian leadership has repeatedly stated that the residents of Crimea voted for reunification with Russia democratically, in full compliance with international law and the UN Charter. According to Putin, the issue of Crimea is “finally closed.”