Special Representative of the US Department of State Kurt Volker Ukraine said that the issue of "freezing" of the situation around the annexation of the Crimea is not on the agenda and should not be linked to solve the problem of the Donbass Crimea. Simply put, the American diplomat answered those Western politicians who still think about the "exchange" of Donbass to the Crimea.

This "exchange" is the same utopia as the opinion that the war in the Donbass itself was started in order to divert attention from the annexation of the Crimea. No, both the Crimea and the Donbas are links in one chain - a special operation against the attempt on Ukrainian sovereignty. It is not by chance that Vladimir Putin's "Crimean speech" clearly spoke of "Novorossia" allegedly donated by the Bolsheviks to Ukraine. Simply put, the eastern regions of Ukraine were "assigned" the same historical status as the Crimea - in fact the peninsula was also referred to as Khrushchev's "gift". And then what difference does it make when the Bolsheviks cut off from Russia its "primordial" lands. The task of the Kremlin is the restoration of "historical justice", "the gathering of Russian lands".

Putin did not succeed only thanks to the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people and the economic pressure of the West. If not for this resistance, if not for Russia's economic problems, it is entirely possible that Moscow would have annexed the occupied east of Ukraine in the same way as the Crimea. After all, the notorious "referendums" about joining the neighboring country in the occupied territories were not carried out by accident - the situation developed according to the Crimean scenario, and then it was drowned.

Yes, Putin managed to capture part of the Donbass - but initially it was about a much more serious political program. About the East, about "Novorossia". And only after Putin's defeat myths began to be born that in fact the Russian ruler is interested only in the peninsula, on which it is possible to "exchange" other parts of the Ukrainian land. And that Putin has started a war in the Donbass, so that the world will reconcile with the seizure of the Crimea. To get the Crimea definitively and irrevocably.

But the Kremlin annexed the Crimea and tried to seize the Ukrainian east with a single goal - the goal of destroying Ukraine. That is why the artificial isolation of the situation around the Crimea is a gross political mistake.

Not only Ukraine, but the international community as a whole has two important tasks: ending the war in the Donbass and restoring the territorial integrity of Ukraine, that is, a return to the principles of international law. And in this sense Crimea is no different from Donbass. From the point of view of international law and Ukrainian legislation, the Crimea is an integral part of the territory of Ukraine. The fact that Russia has entered someone else's territory into its Constitution is Russia's problem. And this problem needs to be solved by Russia itself. But everything else is a problem of peace that surrounds Russia.

Neither the Russian leadership, nor Russian citizens, nor residents of temporarily occupied territories should have any illusions about the stability of the Russian presence in the Donbass and Crimea. Sooner or later the Russians will leave. Absence of illusions will make the right choice for everyone. And the leadership of Russia, which will understand that you can not stay at the crime scene indefinitely. And citizens of Russia, for whom the concepts "Krymnas" and "krahnash" will soon become synonyms.

And residents of the occupied territories who do not have to rely on Moscow, and live, as they do, live in an unstable situation - in anticipation of the liberation or return of a hostile country, it depends on political preferences. Here, even the evaluation is not important, it is important to understand the future.

And Western politicians who talk about freezing, just create illusions - and thereby multiply wars and misfortunes. That is why the clear position of the American special representative is so important.

Original.