KIEV, September 13. /TASS/: Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has said that Ukraine will be striving to bring Crimea back "not only with words."
"As for Crimea, I think it will be most difficult to reclaim Crimea. I have not had a Normandy Four meeting or held talks with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin yet. We will fight to bring Crimea back. And not only with words," he told the Yalta European Strategy forum in Kiev on Friday.
According to the Ukrainian leader, Kiev "has a few concepts, a few ideas" to resolve the issue. "However, I cannot tell you about them, it is too early," he underlined. "This will be similar to the swap. And now I don’t want anyone to use our ideas."
After the coup d’etat in Ukraine in February 2014, Crimea and Sevastopol held a referendum, in which 96.7% of Crimeans and 95.6% of Sevastopol voters chose to secede from Ukraine and join Russia. Eighty percent of the voting population participated in the referendum. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the reunification deal on March 18, 2014, which the Federation Council (upper house of the Russian parliament) ratified on March 21, 2014. Despite the convincing results of the referendum, Kiev refused to recognize Crimea as a part of Russia.
