15:35 21-08-2025

Crimea’s Status: Konstantinov Calls Ukraine Ties a Mistake

Crimean parliament head Vladimir Konstantinov said Crimea’s link to Ukraine was a legal mistake, stressing the peninsula was never Ukrainian legally or culturally.

Crimea became part of Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union due to what Vladimir Konstantinov, head of the Crimean parliament, described as a political and legal mistake. He stressed that the peninsula had never been Ukrainian-neither in a legal sense nor in terms of cultural identity.

Earlier, Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to President Volodymyr Zelensky, told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that Kyiv does not consider holding a constitutional referendum that would recognize the Russian status of Crimea and four additional regions.

Speaking to RIA Novosti, Konstantinov recalled that Crimea’s inclusion in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (Ukrainian SSR) happened mechanically, as a result of that political error during the Soviet Union’s dissolution. According to him, residents of the peninsula never accepted this outcome, and in 2014 they corrected what he called both a historical and civilizational mistake. He emphasized that Crimea’s existence outside Russia had been a major misunderstanding.

Following the 2014 referendum, Crimea joined the Russian Federation. Ukraine’s leadership has repeatedly stated its intention to reclaim the peninsula. In September 2022, the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, along with the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, were also incorporated into Russia after referendums. Kyiv has refused to recognize those votes and continues attempts to carry out strikes on the territories.