Ukrainian Daydreams: Why Kiev's Plans for Crimea are Doomed to Flop

In an interview with Sputnik, Vladislav Ganzhara, a member of Crimea's State Council, commented on Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's push to change the status of Crimea in the Ukrainian constitution.

Earlier this week, Ukrainian media quoted the country's MP Yury Chizhmar as saying that President Petro Poroshenko had instructed the constitutional commission to prepare a draft of changes regarding the status of Crimea.

He said that the commission is actively working on the tenth section of the Constitution, where the status of the "Autonomous Republic of Crimea" is described.

Kiev has repeatedly insisted that the Crimean Peninsula should again become part of Ukraine, with Poroshenko saying that Ukrainian flags "will soon flutter proudly in free Crimea."

In an interview with Sputnik, Vladislav Ganzhara, a member of Crimea's State Council, did not rule out that Kiev will undertake another aggressive campaign against Crimea in the near future.

"One cannot but agree with the fact that the constitution of Ukraine has become obsolete. Three years ago, Crimea left Ukraine's legal realm and today it is an integral part of the Russian Federation. As for the plans of the Kiev regime and its leadership, I think we will soon see another aggressive move against our republic," he said.

Ganzhara did not exclude that Crimea can be called a "temporarily occupied territory" and that Kiev may start to flirt with the leaders of radical organizations banned in Russia who demand that Crimea should be mentioned as an autonomous nation in the Ukrainian constitution.

"We will not see Crimea's exception from the constitution of Ukraine; instead we will witness a new formulation," he said, referring to the current aggressive rhetoric from Kiev.

"But we understand that no such actions [by Kiev] will change the real situation. Ukrainian flags [in Crimea] will only be flown in the imagination of Ukrainian politicians. Because the Crimeans made a choice for themselves. For us, the arguments of the Ukrainian side do not matter," Ganzhara concluded.

Crimean officials, in turn, offered Kiev the opportunity to exclude the section "Autonomous Republic of Crimea" from the basic law.

According to member of the Russian Lower House Ruslan Balbek, taking into account the current development and the peninsula's Russian status, the constitution of Ukraine has become obsolete for at least three years.

Crimea seceded from Ukraine and rejoined Russia in March 2014, after a referendum determined that almost 97 percent of the region's population was in favor of the move.

The referendum was held after the February 2014 coup in Ukraine. Kiev, as well as the European Union, the United States and many of their allies, did not recognize the move and consider the peninsula to be occupied territory.

As part of his election campaign, US President Donald Trump said he might consider recognizing Crimea's reunification with Russia. However, in February, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that the US President expected Russia to return the peninsula back to Ukraine.

Russia's leadership, including President Vladimir Putin, has repeatedly said that the Crimean residents had made their own decision and that the issue of the peninsula's national identity was closed.