MOSCOW. Jan 18 (Interfax) - The sovereignty of Crimea is not an issue debatable for Russia, and the crisis in southeastern Ukraine can be settled only if Kyiv does not abandon these territories, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.
"This issue is absolutely not debatable and is indisputable for the Russian Federation. We don't discuss status, condition, and the future of Russian regions. This is not an issue to debate with anyone," Peskov said on Wednesday when asked by journalists to comment on Ukrainian parliamentarian Nadiya Savchenko's remark that the crisis in Donbas could be settled not in a military way but through negotiations, for which Ukraine should temporarily stop its attempts to reclaim Crimea.
Touching on Russia's influence on the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics (DPR and LPR), Peskov said, "Russia is doing all it can to promote an intra-Ukrainian settlement. What certainly is important above all here is that Ukraine itself should not abandon these republics."