"I think what we need to do is accept that Crimea is going to stay a part of Russia unless we are willing to go to war. So we have to give de facto recognition of Crimea but not de jure recognition of Crimea but we use that as a way of negotiating with Russia and Moscow over the position in eastern Ukraine, so there is full implementation of Minsk 2… and also there're negotiations across the whole range of other areas for example the joint position on Syria and we should put Crimea into the mix. I don't think there's any point in trying to say that Russia should give up Crimea because they won't," Independent Labour Life peer Truscott said, speaking in the UK Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee.
Russia's historical southern region of Crimea rejoined the country after a 2014 referendum. Almost 97 percent of the region's population voted for reunification in a referendum. Sevastopol, which has a federal city status, supported the move by 95.6 percent of votes.
