Dmitry Peskov
© RIA Novosti / Aleksey NikolskyiDmitry Peskov
President Vladimir Putin's spokesman has ruled out any chance of Russia giving Crimea back to Ukraine.

"Crimea is part of Russia. Return, handover or any other manipulation is not even up for discussion," Dmitry Peskov said in a program on the Russian News Service radio on Saturday in a comment on a statement by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry that returning Crimea to Ukraine is one of Ukraine's conditions for normalizing its relations with Russia.

On July 9, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Ukraine against trying to get back the peninsula by force.

"If the idea is to attack this part of Russian territory, the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, I wouldn't advise anyone to do that. We have a national security doctrine, and it very clearly prescribes the action to be taken in that case," Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow.

At a referendum in Crimea on March 16, 96.77% of voters supported a proposal for the region to join Russia, according to the Crimean Central Election Commission.

On March 18, Putin signed a treaty that sealed the incorporation of Crimea and Sevastopol into Russia.