US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the Crimea is forever lost to Ukraine, local news portal NV reports.

The head of American diplomacy visited Ukraine on January 31. According to media reports, during one of the closed meetings, he said that “Crimea is lost. World players understand this. Ukraine gave Crimea, and Russia is not one of those who can pick up something.

The Ukrainian-Crimean activist Emine Dzhaparova asked the White House to keep Crimea in the eyes of US foreign policy and also support the conference about the Crimean question in Washington D.C.

The observers noticed that Pompeo’s expressions clearly signaled that he had priorities other than a conference on Crimea.

Pompeo replied – “Crimea is lost. Key players [in world politics] realize that. Ukraine gave it away, and Russia is not the country from which you can just take stuff”

A vibrant and free civil society is critical to a thriving democracy. Great to hear from #Ukraine's civil society and business leaders about the country's reform agenda and ways we can collaborate to improve the investment climate and increase prosperity for both our nations. pic.twitter.com/oHJ0m6jGiV — Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 31, 2020

According to Nikolai Kapitonenko from the International Center for Advanced Studies -“For Pompeo, it was important to show that Washington’s support for Ukraine remains, but at the same time, the United States will remain in a position of not getting too deeply involved in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. So the limits of strategic partnership are quite outlined.”

During a meeting with Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei, Pompeo said that ” ultimately Ukraine and the Russian Federation must resolve the conflict themselves.”

Crimea joined Russia in the spring of 2014 following a referendum. The voting results are not recognized by Kiev, the United States and the EU countries , considering the peninsula an occupied territory. Moscow insists on compliance with international law.