"President Trump has made it very clear that he expects the Russian government to de-escalate violence in the Ukraine and return Crimea," Spicer said at the daily news briefing on Tuesday. "At the same time, he fully expects to - and wants to - get along with Russia."
"Crimea is a part of Ukraine. Our Crimea-related sanctions will remain in place until Russia returns control of the peninsula to Ukraine," Haley said at the UN Security Council meeting on February 2.
Comment: That's quite disingenuous. Crimea only became part of Ukraine after WWII. And as we all know, Crimeans voted overwhelmingly to rejoin Russia after Madam Nuland launched her dirty little coup and the Ukrainian Neo-Nazis started trying to persecute the country's Russian population
Russian envoy Vitaly Churkin responded by citing the US Constitution and pointing out that Crimeans overwhelmingly voted to join Russia, after the US-backed coup in February 2014 overthrew the elected government in Kiev.
Comment: First, Nikki Haley condemned Russia at the UN and called for Russia to 'end it's occupation' of Crimea, then Flynn resigns, and now the White House makes an official statement about Crimea. Seems the Deep State has been busy demolishing hopes of any restoration of sane relations with Russia.
Update: Maria Zakharova put a swift end to any speculation that Russia would capitulate to Trump by making it very clear that Crimea is "our land":