Polish Foreign Minister Proposes Hand Over Crimea To UN 'For Fair Referendum'

• 19.09.2024, 8:50

The peninsula is of key importance for discussing peace terms between Ukraine and Russia.

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski proposed to transfer the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, temporarily occupied by Russia, under the UN mandate. This is supposedly necessary for preparing, in his understanding, a fair referendum.

He says that the Crimean peninsula is of key importance if peace terms between Ukraine and Russia are discussed. The Polish Foreign Minister expressed this personal opinion at the 20th annual YES meeting in Kyiv, Interfax-Ukraine reports.

"Crimea is symbolically important for Russia and especially for Putin, but it is strategically important for Ukraine. Therefore, I do not see how they will be able to agree without demilitarizing Crimea," Sikorski said.

He believes that if both countries want it, then "a solution could be found" in this issue. In particular, according to him, it would be possible to transfer Crimea under a UN mandate with a mission to "prepare a fair referendum."

"After checking who the legal residents are, and so on... And we could postpone it for 20 years," the Polish Foreign Minister voiced one of the options.

At the same time, he also expressed the opinion that it was a big mistake for the West, in particular the Americans, to tell the Ukrainians not to fight in Crimea.

"If the Ukrainians had fought in Crimea, even symbolically, he [Putin - Ed.] might not have decided on Donbas," Sikorski explained his position.