US recognizing Crimea as Russian would be 'much worse than Munich in 1938,' Ukrainian lawmaker says
The global consequences of the U.S. recognizing Crimea as Russian territory would be “much worse than Munich in 1938,” a Ukrainian lawmaker has told the Kyiv Independent.
The potential diplomatic move is reportedly one of several options included in a U.S. proposal to end the war in Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on April 20.
Ukrainian lawmaker and chair of the parliament’s foreign affairs committee, Oleksandr Merezhko, told the Kyiv Independent that if U.S. President Donald Trump did follow through and formally recognise the occupied peninsula as Russian, it would be a “huge scandal” with major implications for the international rule of law.
“I doubt he will do it because he understands — at least the advisors around him and the State Department understand — the consequences of this in the eyes of the whole world,” he said.
In 1938, the leaders of the U.K., France, and Italy met with German tyrant Adolf Hitler in Munich and formally recognized Nazi Germany’s annexation of the Sudetenland in what was then Czechoslovakia. An emboldened Hitler launched World War II a year later.
Russia illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 in a sham referendum which was conducted in the absence of any international observers, and with armed Russian soldiers present at polling stations.
Any move by the Trump administration to formally recognize it as Russian territory would contradict a decade-long bipartisan consensus in Washington and international law.
In 2018, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reaffirmed U.S. opposition to the annexation, calling it a threat to “a bedrock international principle shared by democratic states: that no country can change the borders of another by force."
The U.S. Congress has also passed legislation opposing any recognition of Russia’s claim over Crimea.
“If Trump does it officially, as a president, it will be a serious violation of the principles of international law,” Merezhko said.
“It would violate such principles as respect for sovereignty of other states, non-use of force, respect for territorial integrity, and non-interference in foreign relations.
“It will be a huge scandal."
The proposals, outlined by senior Trump administration officials in a confidential meeting with Ukrainian and European counterparts in Paris on April 17, were confirmed by Western officials to the WSJ.
The news comes as Washington signaled readiness to drop ceasefire efforts within the coming days unless progress is achieved.
Ukraine’s feedback is expected at a follow-up meeting in London later this week. If there is alignment between Kyiv, Washington, and European allies, the proposals could be formally introduced to Moscow.
The Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent