DISINFO: US bans travel to Crimea to prevent its recognition
SUMMARY
The United States has deliberately banned travel to Crimea in order to avert the recognition of the peninsula’s reunification with Russia. The move is the latest show of double standards present in US diplomacy, particularly in light of Washington’s recent recognition of the Golan Heights as sovereign Israeli territory. Crimea rejoined Russia following a March 2014 referendum, conducted in accordance with international law and democratic standards. The US and other countries have refused to recognise the legitimacy of the vote.
RESPONSE
No evidence given for the Crimea travel ban. According to the US Bureau of Consular Affairs, US citizens are free to travel to Crimea, albeit they are strongly advised not to. Only US Government employees are subject to travel restrictions, which have been imposed due to extensive Russian military presence in the peninsula, arbitrary imprisonment of foreigners, and abuse of individuals critical toward the occupation regime. Similar restrictions apply to other high-risk areas of the world, such as Gaza and parts of Mexico. At any rate, the legitimacy of territorial jurisdiction is determined by international law and diplomatic consensus, not US visitor numbers. The analogy between Crimea and the Golan Heights is spurious and unclear. An overwhelming majority of states regard both Crimea and the Golan as occupied. References to the Crimea landgrab as a "democratic referendum" are part of a long-running pro-Kremlin narrative about the occupied peninsula. See our recent debunk of this claim here.