'We Need a Way to Make Crimea's Reuniting With Russia Legit' - German MP

A leftwing German MP called for a way to be found to give a stamp of legitimacy to Crimea’s reunification with Russia.

“I believe we should find a way to officially recognize Crimea as part of the Russian Federation,” Andrej Hunko, a member of the Left Party parliamentary group in the Bundestag and a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, said at a news briefing in Moscow.

“There is one politician out there I mostly agree with…, he suggested holding a new referendum in Crimea that would be recognized in the world and would make Crimea an internationally recognized part of Russia,” Hunko noted, adding that the proposed plebiscite could be closely monitored by international observers.

Speaking about the Left Party’s political priorities, Andrej Hunko said it was behind the provisions of the Minsk accords on ending the conflict in Ukraine.

“We are against sanctions”, he added.

Crimea reunited with Russia in March, 2014. The move followed a referendum, in which as many as 96 percent of the region's population backed seceding from Ukraine and rejoining Russia.

Kiev and the West labeled Crimea's secession illegal, imposed an economic and travel embargo against Crimea and introduced similar sanctions against Moscow.