A British Conservative MP told Ukraine to forget about Crimea. In the future, Ukraine will have to accept the loss of the Crimean peninsula, which in 2014 joined the Russian Federation as a result of the will of the Crimean people, Richard Belfell, a member of the Conservative Party at the British Parliament, told journalists. Speaking about how it would be possible to solve once and for all the problem of Russian ownership of Crimea, the MP said that a referendum repeated under UN supervision may be a solution. Belfell said that he was there 10 or 15 years ago, when it was part of Ukraine, and almost everyone that he met there at the time complained that the peninsula belonged to Ukraine and that he didn’t think that a desire to be part of the country had ever been present in Crimea.
Sanctions against Russia do not work. The sanctions have not hit the Russian economy or politics. If these sanctions do not work, it seems that they should be abolished.
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative that Western sanctions against Russia are unjust and ineffective. Claims that the sanctions do not work are not backed by evidence. In reality, sanctions imposed on Russia by the US and EU, following the annexation of Crimea and Russian meddling in the US election, have sapped Russian economic growth. The false narrative about sanctions is often backed by false statistics. For example, the alleged economic growth of two percent does not withstand scrutiny. In 2018, the inflation rate went up and the rouble depreciated 20% against the dollar. Further reading on the Russian narrative about ineffective Western sanctions by StopFake. More cases related to sanctions are available here.