Crimea's Head Sergey Aksyonov affirmed that with the start of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, the tension on the border between Ukraine and Crimea, which had persisted for eight years, disappeared.

In an interview for the Izvestiya newspaper, Aksyonov pointed out that "the situation is calm and controllable. There are no Ukrainian troops on the border, so the tension that persisted for eight years until the start of the special military operation has disappeared."

Crimea Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov had called on Ukraine to "recognize that Crimea is Russian territory."

Ukraine claims that Crimea is occupied by Russia. However, Crimea became part of Russia after a March 2014 referendum in which 96% of Crimeans voted to rejoin the Russian Federation.

A couple of days ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he is now ready to consider discussing the status of Crimea and the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

It is noteworthy that Georgy Muradov, the permanent representative of the Republic of Crimea, revealed that Washington has tried to open a biological laboratory in Simferopol, Crimea, before the region joined Russia in 2014.

Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24 in response to calls from the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics for protection against intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops.

The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that the special operation, which targets Ukrainian military infrastructure only, aims to "demilitarize and denazify" Ukraine, adding that the civilian population is not in danger.

Moscow has assured that it has no plans to occupy Ukraine. However, Western nations have imposed numerous sanctions on Russia following the operation.