The process of international recognition of Crimea as a Russian region will take a long time, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the Seliger youth forum.
“I think that the issue relating to recognition is that it will be resolved in a long and tedious way. This is strange for me because, indeed, what happened to Serbia and Kosovo shows that when the political will and wish exist, then decisions, which occurred in Kosovo or occurred in Crimea, are recognized very easily,” Putin said.
Kosovo declared independence as the result of the decision made by parliament, without holding a referendum, the president said. “And what happened in Crimea? What have you done? You have made a parliamentary decision on independence and then, based on the referendum held, made a decision to join Russia,” Putin said addressing a forum participant from Crimea.
This is a more democratic way to determine one’s own destiny, Putin said. “And who can deny a nation the right to self-determination? And when I argue with my Western colleagues on this regard, no response come to this,” he said.
In the situation with Crimea, Russia acted in accordance with international law and the UN Charter directly stipulating the right to self-determination and on the basis of a nation’s will, Putin said.
“But indeed, a number of everyday problems – technical, economic and financial ones – emerged due to this. Our task is to minimize them, to bring them to zero and then to create regions of advanced development in Crimea,” he said.
If given the choice between what is happening in Donbas and how people live in Crimea, “any person with common sense would choose the current state of Crimea,” Putin said.
