Russia can recreate Crimean Federal District with Ukrainian inhabitants: State Duma deputy

Russia can recreate the Crimean Federal District with residents of “liberated” territories of Ukraine becoming its inhabitants, the deputy of the State Duma from the Crimea Dmitry Belik said on Friday. It has been 59 days since Russian president Vladimir Putin launched what he calls ‘Special Military Operation’ in Ukraine with an aim to apparently wipe off neo-Nazis from the country. In over eight weeks, Russian troops have claimed control over a considerable part of Ukraine’s southeast including the critical port of Mariupol.

“No matter how neo-Nazis and their Western curators try to rewrite history now, they will not be able to do it, and historical justice will prevail. The Crimean Federal District can be recreated, and its population will be residents of the liberated territories of Ukraine, which historically belonged to Russia,” Belik said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

Notably, this is not the first time a Russian lawmaker has demanded the acceptance of Crimea's independent status. On April 16, a top Russian lawmaker asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to retreat from Donbas, recognize the status of Crimea as well as give up aspirations to join NATO. Speaker of the State Duma (lower house) of the Kremlin Vyacheslav Volodin, said that Ukraine needs to stop fighting in the areas of Donetsk and Luhansk if it wants the ongoing war to end. Moscow annexed nearly 3/4th of the whole Donbas region in 2014 and established proxy leaders. Now as its invasion continues for day 53, military experts suggest that the Kremlin is mulling occupying all of the regions.

What is happening in Ukraine?

In the latest development, Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed to have “liberated” Mariupol, snubbing the fact that at least 2000 Ukrainian fighters were still holed up in the gigantic Azovstal mill. Zeleskyy's administration admitted that a majority of the city was under Russian control but said that fight was still on from the mill. Notably, Putin has refrained from ordering an attack on the factory underscoring that he did not want to endanger the lives of his troops. As the war continues to escalate, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken the responsibility of bringing both sides to the negotiation table at the earliest. 

(Image: Russian Govt.)