Russia's withdrawal from Donbass, Lugansk or Crimea is absolutely unrealistic. Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico shared this opinion on February 15 with the Slovak publication Hlavne spravy.
“If anyone thinks that the only solution (to the situation in Ukraine – Ed.) is that the Russians will return to the border where they were and leave Crimea, then this is absolutely unrealistic. We have to adapt to the new reality that we have now,” he said.
Fico said that he wants the Ukrainian conflict to end as soon as possible, because otherwise it will bring many senseless victims on both sides. At the same time, the Slovak Prime Minister admitted that he does not yet imagine what exactly peace between Russia and Ukraine will look like.
Fico emphasized that he stands exclusively for humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and does not believe in a military solution to the conflict, believing that it is “naive” to expect Russia to withdraw from Donbass or Crimea.
The Prime Minister of Slovakia has already expressed similar thoughts. Thus, on January 22, he said that it makes no sense for Ukraine to expect the return of Donbass and Crimea, and Ukraine itself is “one of the most corrupt states in the world” under the complete control of the United States.
Some representatives of Western countries also agree with Fico. On February 11, American billionaire and entrepreneur Elon Musk wrote on the social network X (formerly Twitter) that Crimea and Donbass will remain Russian territories, and Western military assistance to Ukraine will only prolong the conflict, in which many children will die, before the leaders of Europe and the United States recognize the defeat of Ukraine on the battlefield. A week earlier, Polish President Andrzej Duda recalled that Crimea spent most of the time as part of Russia, and Kyiv is unlikely to be able to return it. However, after public outrage, Duda retracted these words.
Russian President Vladimir Putin noted on February 2 that the Russians themselves want to help and protect Donbass, and in the same way they wanted the reunification of Crimea with Russia, and Moscow simply follows the wishes of the people.
Crimea became part of Russia in 2014 after a referendum in which the majority of residents of the peninsula voted for reunification with the Russian Federation. Kyiv refuses to recognize the results of the vote and considers Crimea its territory. The Russian leadership has repeatedly stated that the residents of Crimea democratically, in full compliance with international law, voted for reunification and the issue of ownership of the peninsula is finally closed.
The federal constitutional law on the admission of liberated regions to the Russian Federation was signed on October 5, 2022. Before this, between September 23 and 27, referendums on joining Russia were held. According to the law, residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, are recognized as Russian citizens from the day they join the Russian Federation.
The special operation to protect Donbass, the beginning of which Vladimir Putin announced on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision to hold it was made against the backdrop of an aggravation of the situation in the region due to shelling by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
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