You're reading: Kremlin calls ICC judgment on Crimea ‘absolutely contradicting reality’

The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) wording qualifying the 2014 events in Crimea as a military conflict runs counter to reality and the position expressed by Crimea’s residents in a referendum, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.

“Certainly, this wording absolutely contradicts the reality, it contradicts our position, and, what counts most, it contradicts the position expressed in a referendum by the citizens of Crimea, when they decided to become part of the Russian Federation,” Peskov told journalists in commenting on the ICC judgment qualifying the events in Crimea as a military conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Asked whether this judgment has prompted Russia to leave this court’s jurisdiction, Peskov replied, “No. You know, the Russian Federation de jure wasn’t under this court’s jurisdiction. In this case, this is a pure formality, because the document was signed but was not ratified.”