"This [the Ukrainian crisis] was not a difficult issue to solve," Gliniasty explained. "We should have simply transferred control of Sevastopol to Russia, and guaranteed the status of the Russian language in Crimea." The former ambassador argued that the official transfer of the port city, home to the Russian Black Sea Fleet, should have occurred no later than 2042, when Russia's lease agreement with Kiev for the naval base expired. "These projects could have been formulated at the moment when Moscow began to voice its objections to the signing of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine," Gliniasty noted.
When asked why Europe should have agreed to transfer Sevastopol to Russia and call on Kiev to guarantee the status of the Russian language on the Crimean peninsula, Gliniasty stated that "Crimea has never belonged to Ukraine; it has always been Russian."