US Ambassador to Ukraine: Washington doesn't recognize the legitimacy of Russian elections in Crimea
The US Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, stated on September 15 that the United States will never recognize the Russian State Duma elections in the territory of annexed Crimea.
“I will remind you of the US position once again: The Crimea is and will always be part of Ukraine despite all possible legal actions of Russia. We will never recognize the Crimea as a part of Russia. We also don’t recognize the elections to the Russian State Duma that are taking place in the territory of the Crimea,” Marie Yovanovitch stated in her interview with Evropeyskaya Pravda.
On September 12, the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, called on the EU and G7 countries not to recognize the legitimacy of the Russian parliamentary elections on the annexed peninsula. Marie Yovanovitch took office as the US Ambassador to Ukraine on August 23, 2016. Earlier, Yovanovitch served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.