Russia has no illusions about the approach of Western countries to the solution of the Ukrainian crisis, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, recalling that the West “clapped its hands” when Kosovo seceded without a referendum and that it does not apply the same approach to Crimea, reports Sputnik.
“In 2014, Crimea held an open, transparent referendum with the presence of many international observers, and the West rejected these results, saying that the principle of territorial integrity was violated. However, when Kosovo previously seceded without any referendum, the West applauded it, and at the same time orchestrated that secession, saying that in this way the Albanians of Kosovo realized the principle of self-determination of the people. So, here we have no illusions about how the West will continue to act,” Lavrov said.
Lavrov recalled that, according to the UN Charter, everyone is obliged to respect the territorial integrity of states whose governments respect the people’s right to self-determination and as such represent the entire population on the territory of the respective state.
“I will not dwell on the fact that after the Nazi clique came to power in February 2014 and after they announced that they would remove the status of the Russian language when they sent armed gangs to attack the Crimean parliament – that these people cannot represent the population of Crimea and southeastern Ukraine. Everything was completely clear. So international law here very clearly describes how a certain situation should be interpreted. The West does not listen to this, the West follows its own rules,” concluded Lavrov.
