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US sanctions imposed against Russia because of Crimea’s reunification with Russia will continue until the peninsula returns to Ukraine, the US Department of State said in a release on Monday, Sputnik reported.

“This week, as Russia attempts to validate its cynical and calculated ‘liberation’ of Crimea, we reaffirm that sanctions related to Crimea will remain in place, as long as the occupation continues,” the statement read.

March 16 marks one year since the Crimea seceded from Ukraine and became a part of Russia after more than 96 percent of local voters supported the move in a referendum.

On Monday, Washington reiterated its condemnation of the Crimean referendum, claiming it was “not voluntary, transparent, or democratic.”

“We do not, nor will we, recognize Russia’s attempted annexation and call on President Putin to end his country’s occupation of Crimea,” the State Department stated.

The State Department also accused Russia of human rights violations in Crimea over the last year, including “mounting repression of minority communities and faiths, in particular Crimean Tatars, and systematic denial of fundamental freedoms."

“Local residents have been detained, interrogated, and disappeared and NGOs and independent media have been driven out of the peninsula,” the release added.