Trump Claims Crimea “Will Stay With Russia,” Pins War in Ukraine on Obama

US President Donald Trump stated in an interview with The Time, released on April 25, that Crimea will be recognized as Russian territory as part of a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine,

Trump made the remarks in response to a question about whether he would accept the cession of Crimea and four other partly occupied Ukrainian regions to Moscow. The president emphasized focusing specifically on Crimea, saying, “We have to only talk about Crimea because that’s the one that always gets mentioned.”

“Crimea will stay with Russia. And Zelenskyy understands that, and everybody understands that it’s been with them for a long time,” Trump added.

The US President added that the occupation of Crimea occurred during Barack Obama’s presidency, asserting that Russia would not have taken Crimea if he had been president at the time. He also described the ongoing full-scale war as “Obama’s war.”

“Well, Crimea went to the Russians. It was handed to them by Barack Hussein Obama, and not by me,” Trump said. “With that being said, will they be able to get it back? They’ve had their Russians. They’ve had their submarines there long before any period that we’re talking about, for many years. The people speak largely Russian in Crimea. But this was given by Obama. This wasn’t given by Trump.”

On April 23, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to recent remarks from US officials about the status of Crimea by sharing a 2018 statement from former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, reaffirming America’s long-standing position: the United States does not recognize Russia’s claims to territories seized by force.

On April 24, the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people stated that they oppose any proposals or actions aimed at recognizing Crimea and Sevastopol as part of Russia—neither de facto nor de jure.

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