Romanian foreign office reiterates its position to condemn and not to recognise Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea.

Surrounded by two seas, the Black Sea to the west and south, and the Sea of Azov to the east, and acting as the border between the western world and the Pontic-Caspian steppe, Crimea has been a disputed territory for centuries. Romans, Goths, Byzantines, Cumans and Slavs all wanted to control this much-coveted peninsula. In 2014, Crimea, which was Ukrainian territory at the time, was illegally annexed by Russia, which eight years later went on to launch a large-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.