The Crimean peninsula can never be returned to Ukraine, notwithstanding the fact that it was “annexed,” Czech President Milos Zeman said in answering a reader’s question in the Czech newspaper Parlamentni Listy.

“[Nikita] Khrushchev committed an unforgivable stupidity and the world’s politicians acknowledge today that Crimea cannot be given back to Ukraine,” Zeman said, referring to the Soviet leader who in 1954 made Crimea part of Ukraine, which was then a part of the Soviet Union.

Read more

At the same time, the Czech president stressed that he believed Crimea was, indeed, “annexed” by Russia in 2014.

“It is doubtless that agreements guaranteeing Ukraine’s territorial integrity were breached,” he said, responding to a question from a reader who argued that Crimea had historically been a part of Russia and was thus just “returned,” and not “annexed.”

Zeman had urged the EU to accept the Crimean Republic’s accession into the Russian Federation immediately after it took place in 2014, saying that no one should expect the region’s return to Ukraine in the foreseeable future.

He has also repeatedly spoken out against the anti-Russian sanctions imposed on Russia by the EU and US over Crimea and the Ukrainian crisis.

Most recently, at the opening ceremony of an annual agricultural fair in Ceske Budejovice in late August, he urged the Czech government to seek ways to lift anti-Russian sanctions, stressing that the US embargo on Cuba had demonstrated that these kinds of measures were ineffective.

Zeman was also the only Western leader who came to Russia to attend the 2015 celebrations marking the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945. </s> Crimea cannot be returned to Ukraine, Czech president says

PRAGUE, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Ukraine cannot get back the Crimea peninsula, although Russia took it by annexation, Czech President Milos Zeman was quoted as saying.

Russia annexed Crimea, which includes the strategic port of Sevastopol where its Black Sea Fleet has been based, in 2014, prompting the European Union and United States to impose economic and political sanctions on various Russian companies and officials.

Zeman has spoken out against the EU sanctions and has regularly expressed pro-Russian views. He was the only Western leader to attend the May 2015 celebrations in Moscow to mark the end of World War Two.

"An annexation means breaching international agreements and it is doubtless that agreements guaranteeing Ukraine's territorial integrity were breached," Zeman said in a response to a reader's question published by www.parlamentnilisty.cz.

"On the other hand, I agree with you that (Soviet leader Nikita) Khrushchev made an unforgivable silly thing and world's politicians acknowledge today that Crimea cannot be given back to Ukraine," Zeman said. He did not specify who those politicians were.

Khrushchev gave Crimea to Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union, in 1954.

The Czech government, which has the main say in the foreign policy of the EU country, has followed the common stance of the bloc regarding the sanctions on Russia.

The United States expanded its sanctions over the Crimea annexation on September 1, adding dozens of people and companies, some of them involved in building a multi-billion dollar bridge to link the Russian mainland with the peninsula.

This week, Russia has started major military exercise involving the Black Sea and Caspian fleets with 12,500 troops taking part. (Reporting by Robert Muller) </s> The European Union has imposed asset freezes on six Russian firms for their involvement in the construction of a new road-and-rail bridge linking Russia to the annexed Crimean peninsula, which the bloc says is illegal.

Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 after Ukraine's pro-Russian president was toppled in an uprising. The West condemned the seizure as an illegal annexation and imposed sanctions on Moscow.

After the annexation, the Kremlin ordered the building of a $3.6 million bridge to link the peninsula to Russia.

The bridge, part of which was unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin in May, has drawn strong rebukes from the EU which says it is a further violation of Ukraine's sovereignty.

A statement from the EU Council, which sets the bloc's foreign and security policy, named six firms that will have their assets in the EU frozen. EU persons and entities will not be able to make funds available to them, it said.

The companies include three firms — PJSC Mostotrest, SGM and Stroygazmontazh Most OOO — controlled by billionaire Arkady Rotenberg, President Vladimir Putin's former

Judo sparring partner. Construction firm CJSC VAD, engineering firm GPSM and the Zaliv Shipyard were also named.

"Through their actions they supported the consolidation of Russia's control over the illegally annexed Crimean peninsula, which in turn further undermines the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine," the Council said.

Ukraine's foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin said he welcomed the additional sanctions.

"Important warning also for European businesses not to go down same slippery slope," Klimkin wrote on Twitter.

Russia criticized the sanctions, saying they targeted people living on the peninsula.

"This is a policy of undermining, directed against Crimea's residents," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was quoted as saying by TASS news agency.

Rotenberg brushed aside the sanctions in a social media post, saying work was underway to complete the railway section of the bridge.

"We're all proud of our work and if someone doesn't like it that's not our problem," a spokesman for Rotenberg quoted him on the Telegram messaging service as saying. </s> The European Union has imposed asset freezes on six Russian firms involved in the construction of a new road-and-rail bridge.

The bridge which links Russia to the annexed Crimean peninsula is said to be illegal.

Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 during an uprising which toppled Ukraine’s pro-Russian president.

The West condemned the move as an illegal annexation and imposed sanctions on Moscow.

The 3.6 billion dollars bridge across the Kerch strait, part of which was unveiled by Russian President, Vladimir Putin, in May, has drawn strong rebukes from the EU which says it is a further violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty.

The six companies cited in Tuesday’s statement from the Council of the European Union include construction firms PJSC Mostotrest and CJSC VAD.

“The firms will have their assets in the EU frozen and EU persons and entities will not be able to make funds available to them.

“Through their actions they supported the consolidation of Russia’s control over the illegally annexed Crimean peninsula, which in turn further undermines the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine,” the council said.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Pavlo Klimkin, said he welcomed the additional sanctions.

“Important warning also for European businesses not to go down same slippery slope,” Klimkin wrote on Twitter.

The other companies targeted are engineering firms GPSM and Zaliv Shipyard, and construction groups SGM and Stroygazmontazh Most OOO. </s> Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has ordered the creation of a body to prepare a lawsuit against Russia for damages caused by separatists whom Moscow supports in the Donbas region and for its illegal annexation of the Crimea Peninsula.

"The ongoing armed aggression of Russia brings to the Ukrainian soil new immeasurable human suffering every day, infrastructure is destroyed, enterprises and economic potential of the Donbas and Crimea are destroyed,” he wrote on August 1 on Facebook.

"Therefore, we should not hesitate even for a minute with the formation of Ukraine's consolidated claim to Russia to compensate for the damage inflicted," he said.

Poroshenko said he asked his cabinet to take steps for the “speedy creation” of an interagency coordinating body based on the law of reintegration adopted by Kyiv in January.

That law, he wrote, "clearly confirms Ukraine's devotion to a peaceful settlement and reflects my ideology of peaceful reintegration of the occupied region."

Moscow's takeover of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and its military, political, and economic support for separatists in eastern Ukraine prompted the United States, the European Union, and others to impose sanctions on Russia.

More than 10,300 people have been killed since April 2014 in the conflict between Ukrainian forces and the Russia-backed separatists in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Although Moscow denies interfering in Ukraine's domestic affairs, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in November 2016 determined the conflict to be "an international armed conflict between Ukraine and the Russian Federation."

At a summit earlier this month, Ukraine and the European Union, while agreeing on the need for reforms in Kyiv, also condemned Russia’s seizure of Crimea and its backing of the separatists.

On July 31, the EU expanded its sanctions against Moscow to include companies that helped build a bridge from Russia to Crimea.

"I am glad that my strategy was supported by the EU leaders during the Ukraine-EU summit, expressing their readiness to take the patronage of the restoration of the settlements of the Donbas," Poroshenko said in his statement.

It is not known how effective such a suit against Russia would be or whether Moscow would even acknowledge it.

Kyiv in the past has filed cases against Moscow with various international bodies with little success. In January 2017, Ukraine filed a case against Russia with the Court of Justice, the highest United Nations court.

Moscow in the past has rejected international rulings over its Ukraine-related actions, calling them "biased and politically motivated."

With reporting by Interfax and Unian
Czech President Milos Zeman says in an interview that the Crimean peninsula can never be returned to Ukraine, notwithstanding the fact that it was de facto annexed by Russia.