Crimea May Lose Its Autonomy After De-Occupation - Podoliak

Autonomies within a unitary state, which is Ukraine, are a good environment for separatist sentiments. After the de-occupation of the temporarily captured Crimea, it may lose its autonomy status. This was stated by the adviser to the head of the President's Office Mykhailo Podoliak in a comment for Unian on Monday, May 8.

Podoliak noted that Ukraine has been given the path to the formation of its country and has no right to return to the mistakes made earlier. According to him, the return to autonomies as part of a unitary state can once again become a dangerous basis for the emergence of tension and conflict.

"A unitary state is unitary because there are no individual autonomies in it, which in one way or another can become an excellent environment for the emergence of separatist sentiments. For a unitary state, autonomy is a dangerous path, a path to conflict at the regional level. I don't think that after all "vaccinations" that we have now received, we need to follow this path," Podoliak stressed.

At the same time, he emphasized that it is mandatory to respect the rights of ethnic communities in Crimea, which suffered during the nine years of Russian occupation.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on May 2, the Defense Intelligence recommended the occupiers to leave Crimea.

On May 1, the representative of the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Andrii Yusov, said that many more unpleasant incidents are being prepared for the Russians in the temporarily occupied Crimea.

At the same time, the de-occupation of the temporarily occupied Crimea is inevitable not only for Ukraine, but also for the whole world.