Such actions of the Russian side do not correspond to the international commitments of the Russian Federation by the multilateral and bilateral treaties that guarantee territorial integrity of Ukraine, inviolability and integrity of its borders, non-interference into our country’s domestic affairs.

The independence of this structure was proclaimed by an illegitimate organ upon the results of an anti-constitutional referendum, held with the blatant violations of democratic standards for such referendums that had been developed under the auspices of the OSCE and Council of Europe and constitute an integral part of the principles and values of these international organizations. By recognizing the self-proclaimed Republic of Crimea a “sovereign and independent state”, the Russian Federation has violated severely its obligations and commitments of a member of these international organizations.

Russia’s recognition of the independence of the self-proclaimed Republic of Crimea has only one goal – to establish pseudo-legal foundations for the annexation of this part of the territory of Ukraine and its incorporation into the Russian Federation.

But a legal significance of that act in the conditions of an unprovoked armed aggression of Russia against Ukraine and the Russian military occupation of the Crimean Peninsula is negligible. Modern international law does not recognize violent incorporation of a state’s territory as a legal way of its acquisition.

Ukraine and all civilized world will never recognize illegitimately proclaimed independence of Crimea and its violent separation from the territory of our country.