Ukraine criticized Obama when he said that part of the Crimean people sympathized with the view that Russia represented them, when Moscow annexed the peninsula.
In an interview with CNN on June 22, former US President Barack Obama said that Russia did not take military action against Crimea in 2014 because many people on the peninsula spoke Russian and "some agreed" with the view that Moscow "represented their interests".
The former US president also argued that he and then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel had to push European countries to impose sanctions on Russia to stop President Vladimir Putin from taking action against the Donbass region and all of Ukraine.
Former US President Barack Obama speaks at an event in Athens, Greece on June 23. Photo: AFP
Mykhailo Podolyak, advisor to the President of Ukraine, criticized this statement of Mr. Obama on June 23.
"If Barack Obama publicly declared that Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 was 'legal and legitimate,' then we should not be surprised that Europe is witnessing a major war that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives," Podolyak wrote on Twitter.
Podolyak also argued that it was no surprise that international law "practically does not exist" based on Mr Obama's statements, claiming that the current Russian government was a reflection of "Western policy" before the war.
“Maybe it's time to start admitting serious mistakes instead of coming up with new excuses?”, Podolyak concluded.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov welcomed the former US president's remarks.
"Every now and then in the United States you find such a reasonable person," Peskov told reporters. "There is actually a large enough group of politicians who support the idea of developing good relations with Russia and who speak out against the imposition of Russophobia."
However, the Kremlin spokesman emphasized that it is not a part of the Crimean people who support Russia as Mr. Obama said, "but in fact the entire Crimean people want to become part of the Russian Federation".
Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula after a referendum in March 2014. The US, the West and Ukraine called the move illegal. Kiev has repeatedly vowed to take back the peninsula, including by force.
Huyen Le (According to Anadolu , RT, Politico )
Source link
Comment (0)