The Russian Foreign Ministry's official representative, Maria Zakharova, stated in an interview with the BBC Russian Service that the reunification of Crimea and Russia took place according to the rules of international law.
She said, "the reunification of Crimea and Russia is as close as possible to international law, if we are talking about precedents. The people of Crimea fought for their rights for many years, they should have been guaranteed by Kiev, based on international law, but they were violated."
Zakharova noted that, as a part of Ukraine, the inhabitants of the peninsula wanted a referendum several times, but their right to do so was not implemented, TASS reports.
