Crimea needs to be recognized as a Russian region, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday, commenting on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s readiness to discuss the status of Crimea and the separatist-held regions in eastern Ukraine, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.
“Our position is well known. Crimea is a Russian region and this must be recognized both de facto and de jure,” Peskov told journalists.
Peskov went on to say the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk also have to be recognized as “sovereign independent states.”
“As for the republics of the DPR and LPR, these are sovereign independent states and they are recognized by the Russian Federation. This also needs to be recognized both de facto and de jure,” he added.
Zelensky signaled in an interview with ABC’s David Muir on Tuesday that he is ready to consider discussing the status of Crimea and the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
Asked about Kremlin conditions to end the war, Zelensky said, “first, I’m ready for a dialogue,” according to ABC’s translation.
Muir asked: “When the Kremlin says these three conditions to end the war: that you must give up on joining NATO, recognize Crimea as part of Russia, and recognize the independence of those two separatist regions and the east to Vladimir Putin who will get this message from you. You say it’s a non-starter, not willing to those three conditions right now?”
Zelensky responded:
“I’m talking about security guarantees. I think items regarding temporary occupied territories and unrecognized republics that have not been recognized by anyone but Russia, these pseudo republics, but we can discuss and find a compromise on how these territories will live on. What is important to me us how the people and in these territories are going to live, who want to be part of Ukraine.”
“The question is more difficult than simply acknowledging them. This is another ultimatum and we’re not prepared for ultimatums. But we have the possible solution, resolution, for these three items, key items. What needs to be done is for President Putin to stop talking, start the dialogue, instead of living in the informational bubble without oxygen,” he Ukrainian president said.
