Lavrov says Crimea could have been Ukrainian but for 2014 coup d'état

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Crimea would have been part of Ukraine but for the coup d'état in 2014, RIA Novosti reported.

“But for the coup d'état in February 2014 and if the agreement reached the day before between then-President Viktor Yanukovych and the opposition had been implemented, Ukraine would still be united and Crimea would be part of it. That is obvious. They did not fulfill that agreement. Instead, they organized a coup d'état,” Lavrov said in an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson.

He added that Russia was genuinely interested in ending the conflict in Donbass that began after the coup d'état, but it was necessary for the Minsk agreements to be fully implemented.

“But they were sabotaged by the government set up after the coup d'état in Ukraine. It was agreed that this government should enter into direct dialog with people who did not accept the coup d'état and promote economic relations with this part of Ukraine. None of this has been done. The Kiev regime said that it would never talk to them directly,” the minister said.