“Waste of time and effort”: Russia responded to Kiev’s plans to “return” Crimea

In Russia, they were skeptical about reports of the development of the Crimea’s return strategy by the team of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. At the same time, a member of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, Crimean Senator Sergei Tsekov, in an interview with RT, expressed the opinion that the Ukrainian side is aware of the impossibility of returning the peninsula to the jurisdiction of Kiev.

“Changing leaders are repeating the same phrases:“ Ukrainian Crimea, ““ we will fight, ”“ we will return it. ” Everyone says that there are some plans, but they can’t imagine anything concrete, ”said the senator.

The parliamentarian added that the ongoing statements about the possibility of "returning" Crimea cause only a grin.

“These are completely frivolous statements ... We need real politicians in Ukraine. They should be primarily interested in restoring relations between Ukraine and Russia. The topic of Crimea in general should be removed from the agenda, ”he concluded.

Recall that on the eve of the head of the so-called representative office of the President of Ukraine on the peninsula, Anton Korinevich said that Zelensky’s team is working on a strategy of “returning” Crimea.

He said that Ukraine has created a special working group that will develop relevant political and diplomatic measures. Among them, he mentioned the development of the concepts of "transitional justice" for the Crimea and Donbass and the reintegration of the peninsula.

“No one is going to take positions in the Crimea. We are convinced that Crimea is ours, ”Korinevich said.

Earlier, speaking about the prospects of "returning" the peninsula to Ukraine, he mentioned three key areas of this activity. As Korinevich explained, the primary tasks of the “representative office” for 2020 will be to develop the bills necessary for the inhabitants of the peninsula, adjust the information policy, as well as strengthen relations with the population and protect the rights of Crimeans.

Vladimir Zelensky himself regularly mentions the issue of the “return” of Crimea in his speeches. In October, he announced that he wanted to return the agenda of the peninsula to the negotiation process within the framework of the Norman format. And earlier, the Ukrainian leader announced his intention to "fight" for the Crimea "not only with words."

“We are thinking about a model. If possible, I will dwell on this. We will fight to return Crimea, and not just with words, ”Zelensky said at the Yalta European Strategy forum.

"Kiev tried in vain to carry out the Ukrainization of Crimea"

Commenting on the regular statements of the Kiev “representative” in Crimea, Viktor Vodolatsky, deputy chairman of the State Duma’s committee on CIS affairs, Eurasian integration and relations with compatriots, expressed the opinion that Ukrainian politicians see the peninsula as “territory without people.”

“They do not understand one thing: the Crimean population voted, expressed their will that they will return to Russia,” the source said.

He also stated that Crimea is now actively developing, while being a part of Ukraine, it was "mercilessly exploited."

According to the head of the committee on public diplomacy and interethnic relations of the Crimean parliament, Yuri Hempel, not a single Kiev strategy will change the attitude of the Crimeans themselves to the situation.

“For more than 20 years, Kiev tried in vain to Ukrainize Crimea, for many years tried to eradicate the desire for the Crimeans to return to their homeland in Russia, and now that the Crimeans dream has come true, not even one of the best strategies can return Crimeans to Ukraine. All this is a waste of time and energy, ”RIA Novosti quoted him as saying.

According to the expert, instead of such projects, Kiev should develop a strategy of good neighborliness with Russia in the interests of its own citizens.

In turn, the State Duma deputy from Crimea Ruslan Balbek suggested that the issues of the Kiev “strategy” for working with the peninsula should be considered from the point of view of state funding.

As the parliamentarian put it, the only real goal of creating a “strategy” is to simulate vigorous activity with the help of “glamorous ideas” and to absorb the money allocated by the state for this “strategy”.

At the same time, the Crimean political scientist Vladislav Ganzhara, in an interview with RT, noted that the current leadership of Ukraine is making a mistake by betting on a “strategy” for the Crimea. According to him, Zelensky repeats the path of ex-president Petro Poroshenko, exploiting the "unsolvable" theme of the Crimea for the Ukrainian state.

“It is very easy to speculate on it, thereby distracting Ukrainians from the real problems that exist in the country. Zelensky makes a very dangerous mistake, because we know that for five years Poroshenko was the topic of external speculation in Crimea, but this didn’t end with anything politically good, ”the expert said.

According to the expert, today Ukrainians expect real problems from the country's leadership, starting from the economy and the social bloc and ending with a clear path for the country's development in the future. However, noted Ganzhara, Kiev is evading discussions on this issue.

“All this forces Kiev to come up with new“ dummies ”to blur the interests of its own citizens,” the expert summed up.