This was announced by the US Secretary of State on the CBS television channel.
“No,” Blinken said in response to a question about whether Washington would consider recognizing Crimea or Donbass as Russian, “if it allows the conflict to be resolved diplomatically and prevent a larger war.”
He also stressed that it was non-negotiable.
The press secretary of the Russian leader, Dmitry Peskov, said that Russia has never attacked anyone first and does not even want to pronounce the word “war”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin at a press conference following talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also said that Russia does not want war.
Crimea became a Russian region after a referendum held there in March 2014, in which the majority of the inhabitants of the peninsula spoke in favor of reunification with Russia.