"We will not make them happy": in Moscow they answered the call of NATO to Russia to leave the Crimea

NATO does not recognize the ownership of the Crimea to Russia and calls on Moscow to withdraw troops from the peninsula. The relevant statement was made by the head of the North Atlantic Alliance military committee, the British Stuart Peach.

“The Alliance does not agree and will not agree with the illegal and unjust annexation of Crimea by Russia,” Pich quotes the official website of NATO.

In addition, the representative of the alliance called on Moscow to "free the Ukrainian sailors and ships captured last November from the Sea of ​​Azov."

• Small armored artillery boats Berdyansk and Nikopol (left) and the Yany Kapu roadstead tug of the Ukrainian Navy detained by the Russian border guard service for violating the state border of Russia
• RIA News

Recall, November 25, 2018, three ships of the Ukrainian Navy illegally crossed the Russian border in the Kerch Strait area. The crew did not follow the rules of passage and ignored attempts by the border services of the FSB of Russia to get in touch. As a result, the Russian side had to use force. Violators were detained.

After inspecting the ships, documents were found, including direct instructions on the transition from Odessa to Berdyansk in a “secretive order”. 22 Ukrainian sailors and two officers of the Security Service of Ukraine were arrested on ships. Moscow said that the incident in the Kerch Strait was an intentional provocation by the Ukrainian authorities.

Evaluation of such statements from the Russian side gives an extra reason for NATO to make regular statements, said the first deputy chairman of the international affairs committee, Vladimir Dzhabarov, in an interview with RT.

“We do not call on NATO to leave the territories of the former Warsaw Pact countries, where they promised not to go, they continue to deploy weapons there, we do not call them to leave the Baltic countries - Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, which were part of the Soviet Union. They calmly send their bases there and do not leave, ”said the senator.

He noted that NATO should deal with its internal problems, and Moscow itself will figure out the issues on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Russia will not allow anyone to interfere in matters of national state sovereignty, stressed Olga Kovitidi, a member of the Federation Council of the Republic of Crimea.

“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Bill of Human Rights and a number of international norms confirm the legitimacy of the accession of the Republic of Crimea to Russia. That is why the issue on Crimea is closed, ”she said in an interview with RT.

In the Crimea, they also said that the call of NATO to withdraw Russian troops from the peninsula looks inadequate.

“Crimeans live in peace and tranquility, and NATO would like to destabilize the situation in Crimea. They don’t like the way Crimea develops, but we will not make them happy, ”said Sergey Tsekov, a member of the Federation Council’s international affairs committee.

He added that military units provide full and effective protection of the peninsula. The senator stressed that Crimea reunited with Russia legally and fairly.

The first vice-speaker of the Crimean parliament, Yefim Fix, called on NATO to change the rhetoric against Russia and noted that the issue of Crimea’s ownership is no longer being discussed.

“It's all like a broken record. It is time to stop using old hackneyed "phonographs" and change the rhetoric against Russia. Russian Crimea, and this is the point. The views of NATO in this matter do not interest us. Let them take care of their own affairs, and let the Crimea figure out what to do, ”RIA Novosti quotes the words Fix.

NATO vs Crimea as part of the Russian Federation

Crimea became part of Russia after the referendum held in March 2014. On it, most of the inhabitants of the peninsula spoke in favor of reunification with Russia. Subsequently, Moscow has repeatedly stated that the issue of the ownership of the Crimea is closed.

In March 2019, in connection with the fifth anniversary of the annexation of the peninsula to Russia, NATO called on the Russian Federation to “return” Crimea to Ukraine. The Alliance called the events of five years ago "a serious violation of international law and a challenge to Euro-Atlantic security."

• The destroyer of the US fleet USS Truxtun on the exercises in the Black Sea
• Reuters
• © Stoyan Nenov

“We strongly condemn this act, which we do not recognize and will not recognize. We call on Russia to return Crimea to Ukraine, ”says a NATO statement published March 18, 2019.

The Alliance also added that a return to “normal business” is not possible until there are “clear and constructive changes” in the actions of the Russian side.

The North Atlantic Alliance cannot accept the fact that its plans to deploy the armed forces in the Crimea did not come true, suggested Deputy of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea Vladislav Ganzhara.

“After all, we understand that the West needed Ukraine first of all because of its strategic importance, in particular, the peninsula. And we know that it has already been said about this, that the US dreamed and saw how the Black Sea Fleet leaves Sevastopol and how the next military base will be deployed here, ”said the parliamentarian.

However, the annexation of the Crimea to Russia has changed the strategic balance in favor of the Russian Federation, which annoys a number of Western states, I am sure Ganzhara.

“I think these are not the last such words, but the position of NATO does not affect the ownership of the peninsula and how our Republic is developing as part of Russia,” the parliamentarian concluded.

State Duma deputy from Sevastopol Dmitry Belik called the NATO statement an unprecedented impertinence.

“With the same success, we can demand that NATO withdraw from Europe. It is arrogance, assertiveness, demonstrative disregard for international laws and unseasonableness for today are the factors that support the North Atlantic alliance, ”said the parliamentarian in an interview with RT.

In his opinion, the statement of Stuart Peach may be a curtsey in the direction of the new leadership of Ukraine, but we are talking only about words of support, and not about deeds.

“I am sure Poroshenko can share his five-year experience of“ fruitful ”interaction with NATO and other institutions of Western democracy with Zelensky. They love loud statements, but they don’t go further than that, ”said Belik.

State Duma deputy from the Republic of Crimea Ruslan Balbek also believes that the statements of alliance officials resemble a signal to Ukraine, a sign of support. According to him, NATO decided to redefine its position out of fears that Ukraine will try to negotiate with Russia.

“And since everyone knows that this will not happen, it already becomes a kind of toast at NATO gathering - a wish that is constantly being spoken about, but everyone knows that it will never come true,” the parliamentarian summed up.