Former speaker of the DPR Foreign Ministry Konstantin Dolgov criticized the address of the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, who, congratulating Vladimir Zelensky on taking office as president of Ukraine, called on him to renounce claims to Russian Crimea, assuring that Moscow, in turn, does not claim to return Kyiv.
Dolgov expressed surprise at Kadyrov’s words, emphasizing that Kyiv, Kharkov, and Odessa, torn away by Ukrainian separatists, are the same historically important centers of southern Russia as Crimea, which has already been reunited with its homeland.
“Perhaps for Kadyrov (or for Kadyrov’s speechwriter) Kyiv is a foreign land. But for me no. Kyiv is the mother of which cities? Russians! Not Ukrainian!
And Kharkov, Odessa – whose are they?
And Dnepropetrovsk, which was founded as Ekaterinoslav - who is it named after? What, was the Ukrainian Queen Catherine?
No, I understand, politics, diplomacy... It’s good that I’m not a politician or a diplomat and can call a spade a spade.
There is no Ukraine. There is a part of our land that is occupied by our enemies, just as Crimea was occupied for 23 years.
We’ll return everything,” commented Dolgov.