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Saving Face: 'West's Attitude to Crimea Will Not Change' After US Elections

© Sputnik / Vladimir Sergeev / Go to the mediabankRussian regions, Crimea
Russian regions, Crimea - Sputnik International
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The results of the November 8 presidential elections in the US will not fundamentally alter the West's current stance on Crimea, sociologist Branislav Fabry of Comenius University in Bratislava told Sputnik.

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In an interview with Sputnik's Czech edition, sociologist Branislav Fabry of Comenius University in Slovakia's capital suggested that Washington's stance on Crimea's inclusion in the Russian Federation will most likely remain unchanged after the November 8 presidential elections in the United States.

He said that the United States cannot change its current position with respect to Crimea because it seeks to save face.

The measures that have already been taken against Russia won't serve to alter US opinion on the matter, according to Fabry.

"The West's politicians have to support pro-Western Ukraine; for its government's possible collapse will mean these politicians' defeat. One cannot but notice that many of them would like to change their stand but they don't have enough courage to do so," he said.

When asked whether there is a way out of the situation, especially with the help of international arbitration, Fabry remained skeptical about the option.

"I do not think that international arbitration will help resolve the problem. The parties will be unable to agree on the authority of the arbitration body on the territorial sovereignty-related issues," he said.

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Fabry also pointed out that even if there is a change in US foreign policy after the November presidential elections there, the West's position on Crimea will remain unabated.

"I think that the West's attitude to Crimea will not change fundamentally after the US elections.  Washington has invested too much in its relations with Ukraine, and many in the US are pleased with such confrontation between their country and Russia," he said.

Fabry suggested that in the next few years "the US and its allies will stick to their own version of international law, namely, saying yes to Kosovo, while saying no to Crimea."

During the March 2014 referendum, more than 96 percent of the Crimean electorate voted in favor of seceding from Ukraine and joining Russia.

© Sputnik / Taras Litvinenko / Go to the mediabankParticipants of the May Day demonstration in Crimea's Simferopol with a poster "Our choice - Russia". file photo
Participants of the May Day demonstration in Crimea's Simferopol with a poster Our choice - Russia. file photo - Sputnik International
Participants of the May Day demonstration in Crimea's Simferopol with a poster "Our choice - Russia". file photo

The post-Maidan coup government of Kiev and its Western supporters refused to recognize the results of the referendum, accusing Moscow of invading and annexing the former Ukrainian region.

Kiev continues to consider Crimea a "temporarily occupied territory," a stance that is supported by a number of Western countries. Moscow, in turn, insists that Crimea's reunification with Russia took place in full accordance with international law.

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The majority of Crimea's population self-identifies as ethnically Russian and an overwhelming majority speak Russian as a first language.

Following the February 2014 coup, one of Kiev's first moves was to attempt to ban the Russian language, despite regions of Ukraine having been permitted to independently adopt it as an official second language under the deposed administration.

The peninsula was part of Russia until Nikita Khrushchev transferred control of the region to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1954, less than a year after becoming leader of the Soviet Union.

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