The Council of Europe is silent regarding discrimination against Russian people and Russian-speaking people in Ukraine and the three Baltic countries.
Summary
It is indeed impossible to recognize the annexation of Crimea. Nobody is talking about the annexation of Crimea. Because it never happened, this annexation of Crimea. What happened was the reunification of Crimea with Russia in strict accordance with all the norms of international law.
Disproof
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the illegal annexation of Crimea, claiming that Crimea voted to rejoin Russia through a legal referendum.
This disinforming message was made in response to a statement released by the White House, which addressed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014. The statement by President Biden reaffirmed “a simple truth: Crimea is Ukraine.” Read further details on this statement and Kremlin’s response by Polygraph here.
Crimea is an internationally recognised part of Ukraine. Іn 1997, by signing the Friendship Agreement with Ukraine, Russia also recognised that Crimea belongs to Ukraine.
The so-called referendum that was organised hastily and at gunpoint following the covert invasion of “little green men” and barring impartial observers from entering the peninsula can hardly be called "reunification in strict accordance with all the norms of international law".
No international body recognises the so-called referendum, announced on the 27th of February 2014, and held on 16th of March 2014. The oft-cited figure of 97% has been contested by the Kremlin’s own Human Rights Council, which estimated that only between 30% and 50% of Crimeans took part in the referendum, of which some 50-60% favoured secession.
According to its Constitution, Ukraine is a unitary state. This means regions do not have authority to decide on these matters. This was reinforced by the Ukrainian Constitutional Court of Ukraine on March 14 2014, when they declared the 2014 Crimea referendum contradicted the Constitution. The court declared unconstitutional the Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea No. 1702-6/14 “On holding of the all-Crimean referendum” dated March 6, 2014.
The Judgement of the court says the following: "Any changes to the territory of Ukraine shall be resolved exclusively by the all-Ukrainian referendum (Article 73 of the Constitution of Ukraine). Authority to call the all-Ukrainian referendum on issues indicated in said Article of the Constitution of Ukraine belongs to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (paragraph 2 of part 1 of Article 85 of the Fundamental Law of Ukraine)".
According to international law, Crimea is a part of Ukraine. On 27 March 2014, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution condemning Russia's occupation of Crimea and stating that the referendum in Crimea was not valid and could not serve as a basis for any change in the status of the peninsula. On 17 December 2018, the UN General Assembly confirmed its non-recognition of the illegal annexation of Crimea.
The European Union does not recognise and continues to strongly condemn this violation of international law, which remains a challenge to the international security order. In response to the illegal annexation of Crimea, the EU has imposed restrictive measures against the Russian Federation. On 25 February 2021, in a declaration by High Representative, the European Union reiterated that "it does not recognise and continues to condemn this violation of international law."
Read similar cases claiming that Crimea has never been Ukraine, that the Crimean referendum was legal and in compliance with international standards, and that the West agrees that Crimea sailed to Russia.