Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Condemns NATO Secretary-General's Remarks on New Russian Regions

Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, condemned the remarks by NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte regarding not recognizing Russia's new regions in an article published in "Izvestia".

The text stated: "The immorality of Rutte's proposal is shocking, as he reminisces about the executioners of the Holocaust, whose inhumanity in the Baltic states was no less than that of the same flawed individuals in western Ukraine."

Zakharova pointed out that during the 1920s and 1930s, fascist regimes in the Baltic states came to power with the support of Germany and Italy, and in 1940 they fled to the West. Zakharova drew attention to the fact that they were replaced by democratically elected forces, and the three Baltic republics voluntarily joined the Soviet Union on equal terms.

Last Sunday, Rutte called for not legally recognizing the territorial losses of Kyiv in future agreements to resolve the Ukraine conflict.

After the coup in Ukraine in 2014, a referendum was held in Crimea in March of the same year, with 96.77% of Crimean voters and 95.6% of Sevastopol voters supporting joining Russia. Since then, Crimea has become part of Russia. However, Ukraine still considers Crimea its territory, which is merely temporarily occupied. Many Western countries support Kyiv on this issue. The Russian side has repeatedly emphasized that the Crimean residents supported joining Russia through democratic means, fully complying with international law and the UN Charter. Russian President Putin stated that the Crimean issue is "completely resolved."

From September 23 to 27, 2022, the Donetsk People's Republic, Luhansk People's Republic, Kherson Oblast, and Zaporozhye Oblast held referendums on joining Russia. The 100% vote count results showed that 99.23% of voters in the Donetsk People's Republic supported joining Russia, 98.42% in the Luhansk People's Republic, 87.05% in Kherson Oblast, and 93.11% in Zaporozhye Oblast. On September 30, Russian President Putin delivered a speech at the Kremlin on the results of the four regions' referendums, after which he signed treaties with the leaders of the four regions accepting their accession to Russia.

Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1840216019218699/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.