Trump Said Crimea Should Be Russian State Department Disagrees

Sergei Venyavsky / AFP / Getty Images Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov inside a defendants' cage. The State Department on Monday held a call with reporters to announce that it is calling on Russia to release political prisoners, end the misuse of the legal system to achieve political aims, and to allow all Russians to exercise human rights and fundamental freedoms. Though he was convicted on terrorism charges, he and human rights groups call this a politically motivated case — he was arrested after attending a protest against the annexation of Crimea. Just last week, BuzzFeed News reported that President Donald Trump said at the G7 that Crimea is Russia because its residents speak Russian.