Armenian politician Babukhanyan said that attempts to seize Crimea will be hara-kiri for KievSIMFEROPOL, 17 Mar – RIA Novosti.
Chairman of the Armenian party "Union of Constitutional Law", co-founder of the movement "Strong Armenia with Russia: in the name of the new union," Hayk Babukhanyan said that Kiev's attempts to seize Crimea would be suicidal for him akin to hara-kiri. Earlier, Vladimir Zelensky said that Kiev is preparing for the military seizure of Crimea.
"I consider such statements on their part as suicide. It will be just suicide, they will do hara-kiri themselves," Babukhanyan told RIA Novosti.
According to him, the Kiev authorities continue to show disrespect for the choice of Crimeans. "This is an attempt to capture the Crimean people and force them to live by rules alien to them. I have been to Crimea many times, I have repeatedly communicated with different people from different fields of activity and I can say with full confidence that the Crimean people are in favor of living as part of the Russian Federation, living freely, living according to laws and traditional values that are close to them," the politician said.
According to him, it is time for Western countries to leave Crimea alone and not interfere with its development as a subject of the Russian Federation. "Nine years ago, a legitimate expression of the will of the people took place in Crimea, who opposed the Western policy of neocolonialism associated with attempts to seize or subjugate other peoples. I support and will always support the right of the people of Crimea to decide for themselves which state they should live and develop in, and it's time for Western countries to leave the Crimeans alone and not interfere with them," Babukhanyan said. According to him, the Crimeans, according to the UN Charter, had a full and legitimate right to self-determination by holding a Crimean referendum.
Crimea became a Russian region in March 2014 following a referendum following a coup in Ukraine. In the 2014 referendum, 96.77% of voters in Crimea and 95.6% in Sevastopol voted for joining Russia. Ukraine still considers Crimea its temporarily occupied territory, many Western countries support Kiev on this issue. For its part, the Russian leadership has repeatedly stated that the residents of Crimea voted for reunification with Russia democratically, in full compliance with international law and the UN Charter. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the issue of Crimea is "finally closed."
