State Department spokesman Ned Price said Sunday that Russia’s annexation of Crimea nine years ago was a gross violation of international law and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country. ‘Ukraine.”The United States applauds the efforts of the Ukrainian Crimea Platform to bring the world’s attention to the ongoing Russian occupation,” Price said in a statement released by the State Department. The United States does not and will never recognize Russia’s alleged annexation of the peninsula. Crimea is Ukraine.Recall that Russia used the referendum as a pretext to annex Crimea, which belongs to Ukraine, in 2014.We also recall that in September last year, Moscow held sham referendums on four regions of Ukraine joining Russia. The attempted annexation of this territory has been condemned as illegitimate by Ukraine, its Western allies and the vast majority of countries represented in the United Nations General Assembly.
