OREANDA-NEWS  Moscow perceives the statement of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky about Kiev's desire to return Crimea "by non-military means" as a discussion about the alienation of the territories of the Russian Federation, this is out of the question, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.

"For us, this is nothing more than a discussion of the topic of alienation of the territory of the Russian Federation, there can be no other understanding here, this is out of the question," Peskov said, responding to a request to evaluate Zelensky's statement.

"But such statements once again speak of the unwillingness, unwillingness and inability of the Ukrainian side to be ready to resolve the problem by non-military methods," the press secretary of the president added.

Zelensky earlier in an interview with the British newspaper Financial Times said that "he would only be in favor" if someone offered Ukraine how to return Crimea "by non-military means."

Peskov pointed out that a number of media outlets "absolutely incorrectly conveyed the essence of the statement," interpreting it "almost as President Zelensky's readiness to deal with this topic not by military means, but by peaceful negotiations." "This is an absolutely incorrect interpretation," the Kremlin spokesman stressed. - You know that from the very beginning, in fact, President [of Russia Vladimir Putin] spoke about this repeatedly, even before the start of a special military operation: in the constitution of Ukraine it was said that Crimea should be returned to Ukraine by force. And de facto Ukraine has not given up on this."