In Russia, they reacted sharply to the statement of Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Aleksey Reznikov, who threatened to expel from there the citizens of the Russian Federation who had moved to the peninsula in recent years after the "return" of Crimea.

In an interview with the DOM TV channel, the politician stated that 500 thousand Russians were “brought” from the mainland of the Russian Federation to Crimea as part of an “attempt to assimilate” and dilute the ethnic population of the region.

“As for the fate of these people ... They are not citizens of Ukraine - they came either voluntarily or by force, but they, in fact, accomplices of this crime ... Therefore, their fate (I do not like the word“ deportation ”, it carries the spirit of Stalin's regime), but Ukrainian legislation provides for expulsion from the country, ”Reznikov said.

He explained that he considers the ongoing processes a "war crime" for which Moscow "will be held accountable in the international legal sense."

The politician added that all Russians who entered Crimea not through official checkpoints on the border with Ukraine are subject to "expulsion".

Commenting on this statement, Vladimir Dzhabarov, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, called on the Kiev politician to return to a real agenda and deal with Ukrainian problems, leaving the Crimean issue alone.

“He either likes to write fantastic stories, or he dreamed about it.

Because he talks about someone else's territory, about the subject of the Russian Federation.

No one will come out of there, never in life will the Kiev authorities rule there.

Therefore, let him calm down and deal with the problems of Ukraine, not Russia, ”said the interlocutor of RT.

His colleague, a member of the international committee of the Federation Council, Sergei Tsekov, called such attacks "an absurdity", which is composed "to calm local nationalists."

In an interview with RIA Novosti, the senator recalled that over the past seven years, about 100 thousand Ukrainian citizens returned or moved to Crimea, who then received Russian citizenship under a simplified procedure.

“It's amazing that Reznikov kept silent about this fact.

Apparently, it is a shame that their citizens are running for a better life in a neighboring country, ”added Tsekov.

In turn, the head of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Leonid Kalashnikov urged Ukrainian politicians not to worry about the fate of Crimea, stressing that this region is an integral part of Russia.

It is worth paying special attention to Reznikov's phrase that the influx of Russians to the peninsula allegedly "erodes the ethnic population of Crimea."

According to the 1989 census, 2.43 million people lived in the Crimean region, of which 1.63 million were Russians (67%), 626 thousand were Ukrainians (25.8%), 50 thousand were Belarusians (2.1 %), 38.5 thousand - Crimean Tatars (1.58%).

According to the 2001 All-Ukrainian Population Census, a little more than 2 million people lived in Crimea, and 377 thousand people lived in Sevastopol. The ethnic composition in Crimea has changed somewhat over these 12 years: 58.5% - Russians, 24.4% - Ukrainians, 12 , 1% - Crimean Tatars, 1.5% - Belarusians.

For Sevastopol, these figures were as follows: 71.6% - Russians, 22.4% - Ukrainians, 0.5% - Crimean Tatars and 1.6% - Belarusians.

According to the results of the 2014 census, 2.285 million people lived in the Crimean Federal District (1.891 million in the Republic of Crimea and 393 thousand in Sevastopol).

The ethnic composition was distributed as follows: Russians - 68.3%, Ukrainians - 15.8%, Crimean Tatars - 10.6% (in total for the KFO).

It also turned out that 99.8% of respondents speak Russian, and only 22% speak Ukrainian.

Moreover, 84.1% of residents of the KFO called Russian as their native language (in 2001 - 78.8%), Crimean Tatar - 7.8% (9.5%), and Ukrainian - 3.3% (9.5% ).

According to Rosstat, as of January 1, 2021, 1.9 million people lived in the Republic of Crimea, and 510 thousand people lived in Sevastopol. the peculiarity of the Crimea, as well as of Russia as a whole, has always been multinationality, and the Russians on the peninsula, even during its administrative presence in the Ukrainian SSR, and then in Ukraine, constituted the majority of the population.

According to the expert of the International Institute for Humanitarian Political Research Volodymyr Bruter, Deputy Prime Minister Reznikov, "like all Ukrainian leaders", is in a rather strange situation: "He cannot say nothing, but on the other hand, he does not know what to say."

“Therefore, everything they say has the character of an essay on a given topic.

They need to cause some kind of avalanche reaction on the part of Russia, cause a wave of discontent, attention to their person.

They need to start discussing this in Russia.

In fact, they want to become participants in a certain, albeit virtual, but dialogue, which would seem to show that Russia has an interest in discussing these issues with them.

Therefore, they make statements, not even that they themselves do not believe, but which are unequivocally intended to provoke, offend, even humiliate in some way, "the interlocutor of RT explained.