Kremlin: compensation for Crimea out of question

Crimea’s reunification with Russia was legal, so any compensation to Ukraine for the peninsula is out of the question, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, commenting on an initiative that Czech President Milos Zeman put forward at the PACE session.

According to Peskov, "it is not right to speak about annexation of Crimea both from a factual and legal standpoint, so any compensation is out of the question".

He reiterated that the decision to secede from Ukraine had been taken by a legitimate body - the Crimean Supreme Council - amid the Ukrainian coup and the spread of radical nationalist ideas, "which, unfortunately, are still there." Peskov noted that only after that Moscow make a decision to accept Crimea into Russia

"This is why using the word ‘compensation’ and saying that it can be applied to the situation is not correct in our view - actually, it is totally incorrect," TASS cited him as saying.