Zakharova responded to Kyiv on accusations of holding parades in Crimea and Donbass
The Victory Parade in Crimea is an internal matter of the Russian Federation, and as for Donbass, the authorities of the Donetsk and Lugansk republics, without any assistance from Moscow, themselves resolved all the problems with the OSCE SMM in Ukraine and organized parades for the 75th anniversary of the Victory.
Official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova stated this during a briefing, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“In Kyiv they never tire of coming up with various theories and multiplying statements generated by a perverted perception of reality. Yesterday, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry made another statement and note addressed to the Russian Foreign Ministry, in which it expressed a “strong protest” in connection with the holding of a parade in Crimea on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Victory over fascism without, as emphasized, some kind of “coordination” with Kiev.
I would like to remind you once again that Crimea is an integral part of the Russian Federation, and the issues of holding any events on its territory are and will be decided exclusively by the Russian authorities. The question of the statehood of Crimea was finally closed by the Crimeans themselves during a referendum in 2014 and is not subject to discussion. You know this as well as we do – I am now addressing the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. We will determine which heroes to honor and how to celebrate our holidays ourselves without your prompting,” Zakharova said.
“As for the parades in Donetsk and Lugansk, by the way, they are also mentioned in the Ukrainian protests, Kyiv’s claims are generally pointless. Russia does not control these Ukrainian regions,” the Foreign Ministry representative emphasized.
“As far as we know, the authorities of the declared republics notify the OSCE special monitoring mission in Ukraine in advance about upcoming events and movements of military equipment. It’s strange that the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry doesn’t know about this,” Zakharova added.
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