© RadioSvoboda/RFE/RL
Kiev could recover the Donbass by renouncing the Crimea, said the deputy of the Rada (Ukrainian parliament) Nadezhda Savtchenko in an interview with Ukraine channel 112.
According to the parliamentarian -- who was previously condemned in Russia in a murder case involving two Russian journalists and pardoned by a decree of the Russian president -- "no matter how long the deputies shout and tear their shirts," it will be necessary to renounce the Crimea "for a while."
"The Crimea is a new Transnistria. And in order not to transform the Donbass into Transnistria, the Ukrainian authorities should leave the Crimea occupied and take over the Donbass. At the moment, I do not see any other peaceful means (to resolve the conflict -ed)," said Ms. Savchenko.
The peaceful "best solution" to the dispute would, according to the deputy, be an agreement on the Crimea and the Donbass concluded between Russia and the West. Ukraine should not participate in these negotiations, being politically dependent, Savchenko emphasized.
Russian leaders have repeated many times over that Moscow is not participating in the conflict in the Donbass which involves only the Ukrainian authorities and the Donbass combattants. As a result, Ms Savchenko's solution will surely not help solve the problem.
Attached to Ukraine by Nikita Khrushchev in 1954, the Crimea returned to the Russian Federation following a referendum held in the spring of 2014. More than 95% of the inhabitants of the peninsula voted for this attachment, which was never recognized by Kiev. Moscow repeatedly reiterated that the referendum was been conducted in accordance with democratic norms and international law.
I am still puzzled as to the reasoning for the Russians' release of neo-Nazi murderer Savchenko in the first place... there had to have been a swap of some sort, as the entire episode has never really seen light... the Ukies should feel proud to have a murderer making laws and governing them