Russia will have to pay reparations for Crimea — Illarionov

Sooner of later Russia will have to pay reparations to Ukraine for Crimea. This was the view expressed (via Skype) by  Andrei Illarionov, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington and Putin's former advisor for economic affairs, at a press conference of Russian intellectuals at the Ukrinform news agency, January 6. " I expect  that this act of aggression, of annexation, will be  deemed unacceptable and that Crimea will be returned to its rightful owner -- Ukraine. In this new situation, Russia will have to pay reparations for violating international peace and universally recognized borders and for the damage that Russia has caused Ukraine," Illarionov said. He emphasized that his personal position and the position of colleagues from the Committee of Solidarity with Maidan, as well as many other representatives of Russian intelligentsia, is that "the annexation of Crimea is a totally illegal act that violates agreements between Russia and Ukraine, the UN Charter, the Helsinki Accords, and the Budapest Memorandum." However, Illarionov noted that the opinion of Russian society is split on the Crimean issue. He believes there are many Russians who maintain that "Crimea has become Russian and this cannot be changed," or else they propose that a new referendum be held, again under the protection of Russian bayonets.