Crimea would be a part of Ukraine if it were not for the 2014 coup, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, reports RIA Novosti.
"If it weren't for the coup that took place in February 2014, and if the agreement reached between then-President Viktor Yanukovych and the opposition had been implemented, Ukraine would still be whole, and Crimea would still be a part of it. They did not fulfill this agreement, instead they staged a coup," Lavrov said in an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson.
He added that Russia is sincerely interested in ending the conflict that started after the coup in Donbass, but for that it was necessary that the Minsk agreements were fully implemented.
"But they were sabotaged by the government established after the coup in Ukraine.
It was agreed that this government should enter into a direct dialogue with people who do not accept the coup and not promote the development of economic relations with this part of Ukraine. The Kyiv regime has announced that it will never talk directly with them," the Russian Foreign Minister noted.
