The head of the MFA of Poland proposed to transfer Crimea under the mandate of the UN in order to prepare a “fair referendum”

The Minister of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Poland Radosław Sikorski proposed to transfer Crimea under the mandate of the United Nations in order to hold an "honest referendum" there.

Sikorskyi said this during a discussion at the Yalta European Strategy (YES), reports Interfax-Ukraine.

Sikorsky noted that for Russia, and especially for its leader Vladimir Putin, Crimea is "symbolically" important, and for Ukraine it is "strategically" important. So he does not see how the countries will be able to agree without demilitarizing the peninsula.

"We could transfer it [Crimea] under the UN mandate to prepare a fair referendum after checking who are legal residents and so on... And we could postpone it for 20 years," the head of the Polish Foreign Ministry noted.

• Russia occupied Crimea after a forceful blockade by Ukrainian military units and an illegal referendum on March 16, 2014. The Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly stated that they are determined to de-occupy all Ukrainian territories captured by Russia since 2014, including Crimea.