US President Trump 'de facto' recognizes Crimea as part of Russia, says expert

MOSCOW, August 19. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump’s statement about the impossibility of returning Crimea to Ukraine is de facto recognition by Washington that the peninsula is a part of Russia, Vladimir Zharikhin, deputy director of the CIS Countries Institute, told TASS on Tuesday.

"De facto, this is the recognition of Crimea as a Russian territory, albeit not de jure," the expert said. "Legal recognition by the United States should be handled via the Congress, and with its current rather critical attitude towards Russia, I'm not sure that it will be recognized de jure in the foreseeable future."

Zharikhin, however, described the current situation as a "significant shift."

"It’s quite possible that this [the recognition] may happen in many other countries after Trump’s statement," he noted.

According to the expert, after the Russia-US summit in Alaska, "the result is still a draw."