For five years now, the Crimean question has been on the way to normalizing relations with Moscow, although the return of the peninsula to Russia took place according to all the canons of democracy, deputy of the German Bundestag from the party “Alternative for Germany” Gunnar Lindemann stated.
According to him, Europe needs to respect the voice of the people, which was sounded at a referendum in Crimea in spring of 2014, and the sanctions imposed against the Russian Federation should be lifted, after all, they do not just interfere with international cooperation, but put the German economy at risk.
“AfD is categorically against sanctions against the Crimea and Russia, they should be lifted as soon as possible. Crimeans voted in a referendum. We agree with the fact that the people can make such important decisions. In Crimea, they decided to disengage from Ukraine and become part of the Russian Federation. In my opinion, this is the choice of the people, the vote was democratic, and we must respect its result,”said Lindemann.
He noted that the price for peace in Crimea is very high, and one can only rejoice that “the prudence of the Russian and Ukrainian military allowed them to avoid a civil war, as in the Donbass.” However, Western sanctions prevent students from exchanging, cooperation between sister cities is frozen, even Germans living in Crimea cannot visit their relatives in Germany now. The embassy in Moscow denies them a visa, and they are simply afraid to go to Kiev.
Russia reacted with complete responsibility to the peninsula after reunification, the deputy continued, adding that the same cannot be said about the Ukrainian authorities, who unleashed the “five-year war in Donbass with 15 thousand victims and war crimes committed by the Ukrainian side”.
“President Poroshenko continues this war,” he stressed, admitting that no one in Germany or in Europe knows anything about what is actually happening in the Donbass.