The United States would trigger a third world war if they were to retake Crimea for Ukraine, Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump claimed Monday.
Trump made the comments Monday in relation to press coverage suggesting that he was unaware of the peninsula's annexation.
“I know it [the annexation] exactly. That was two years ago. I mean, do you want to go back, do you want to have World War III to get it back?", he said.
Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014, leading Western governments to impose a raft of economic sanctions against the country. The U.S. and European Union have refused to recognize the legality of the annexation and the referendum which legitimized the region's incorporation into Russia.
Trump last week said he would consider recognizing Crimea as a Russian territory and lifting sanctions against the country.
