“Regarding Crimea ... not only Turkey has stated that it is concerned and condemns the voting in Crimea.
I attribute this noise to two things.
Firstly, five years ago, when there were elections to the State Duma of the previous convocation, no one made such statements, at least they never sounded so loudly, I would remember it if this happened.
The fact that they have now seized upon this Crimean topic ... I think this is an attempt to divert attention from the fact that Kiev, led by President Zelensky, ignominiously failed its obligations under the Minsk agreements, ”he said.
According to Lavrov, the second reason for this behavior is "diplomatic lack of professionalism."
“Because the professionals are well aware that the issue with Crimea is closed once and for all,” the minister stressed.
On September 20, the Turkish Foreign Ministry announced that the elections to the State Duma in Crimea held on September 17-19, 2021 have no legal force for Ankara.
In response to this, the press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin does not accept the relevant statements of Turkey and openly speaks about this to Turkish colleagues.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stressed that the Crimea issue is closed for Russia, and the referendum on the peninsula was held in strict accordance with international law.
Crimea became a Russian region after a referendum was held there in March 2014 - the majority of residents were in favor of reunification with Russia.