“Of course, this was originally our land, they just gave it to Kiev. They understood that they were in unequal conditions with the Ukrainians, ”Filatov said, responding to the comment that“ in the fall of 1991, delegations from Donetsk, Lugansk and Crimea constantly came to the Supreme Council of Russia asking them not to leave them as part of Ukraine. ”
According to him, at that time in Ukraine "nationalism was developing very strongly."
Earlier, the former deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Alexey Zhuravko announced the ingratitude of Ukraine for the territories donated by the Soviet Union. So, according to him, the first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Nikita Khrushchev "gave the Crimea" from the noble shoulder ".
Crimea became the Russian region after a referendum held there in March 2014, in which most residents spoke out for reunification with Russia.