Lavrov explodes: You recognized Kosovo without a referendum, why doesn't it apply to Crimea and Donbas?

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov again mentions Kosovo to legitimize actions in Ukraine, as well as his stance against the West, which, according to Moscow, uses double standards.  

In a statement to Turkish media on Thursday, the Russian foreign minister said that the West declared Kosovo's independence based solely on the principle of self-determination, thus insulting the Serbian people and their history. Meanwhile, according to him, this right was no longer applicable in Crimea, a peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014. 

"There was no referendum in the so-called Kosovo: they simply declared it independent, thus insulting the Serbian people and their history. And when a referendum was held in Crimea according to all the rules, the West declared that the right to self-determination is not applicable there, because territorial integrity is applicable," Lavrov said.

Lavrov also refers to the case of Greenland to support his position that the West uses double standards: “Now we have again asked the question to the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, and his team: if it has been publicly stated that he and his collective leadership at the UN recognize the right of the people of Greenland to self-determination, that it is the people of Greenland who decide their fate and not someone else, then does the UN recognize the same right for the people of Donbas, Novorossiya and, of course, Crimea?” 

Lavrov goes further, claiming that Belgrade guaranteed all the rights of Kosovo Albanians, while in Crimea and Donbas, according to him, the Ukrainians prohibited everything by law. 

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