Baltics will never recognize annexation of Crimea even if US policy pivots—Lithuanian MP

Zingeris made the remarks at the Black Sea Security Forum in Odesa. According to him, support for Ukraine will remain steadfast because the security of the Baltic states is directly linked to Ukraine’s resistance.

“Baltic countries will never recognize the annexation of Crimea, even if the Americans ask us to do so,” said Zingeris.

“We were under occupation for 50 years, and the West never recognized the occupation of the Baltics. Our embassies operated and issued passports in Washington on 16th Street. Back then, we considered Finland’s example, a country that in November 1939 lost 26,000 lives compared to Russia’s 126,000. They survived — we did not. That experience taught our people it’s better to fight and die on the battlefield than to end up later in a Siberian Gulag.” 

On April 22, Axios, citing sources, reported that U.S. President Donald Trump proposed a peace settlement to end Russia’s war against Ukraine, which included official recognition of the 2014 annexation of Crimea. Additionally, the document suggested Washington would recognize de facto recognition of Russian occupation of Ukrainian territory in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhya oblasts.

In an interview with Time magazine on April 25, Trump stated that under any peace agreement to end the war in Ukraine, Crimea “will remain with Russia” and suggested that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “understands” this outcome.