KIEV, March 18 (RIA Novosti) – Ukraine refuses to recognize Crimea's secession and subsequent reunification with Russia, a senior Ukrainian diplomat said on Tuesday.
“Of course we do not recognize, and will never recognize the so-called Crimean declaration of independence and the so-called reunification agreement with Russia,” said Yevhen Perebiynis, the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s Information Policy Department.
“Ukraine will take all possible international law measures to return to the status quo,” he said.
Crimea, previously an autonomous republic within Ukraine, refused to recognize the legitimacy of the government in Kiev and sought reunification with Russia instead. The move sparked the most serious geopolitical showdown between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who signed a reunification treaty with Crimean leaders on Tuesday, said Sunday’s referendum on joining Russia was in line with the international law and the UN Charter.
The United States and the European Union said later in the day they refused to recognize Crimea’s reunification with Russia and consider it a violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
