Ukraine at OSCE: Crimea remains ‘grey zone’ in human rights area

Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk, the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna, made a corresponding statement at the OSCE Permanent Council meeting in Vienna on Thursday, July 18, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"The Russian occupation forces must also be withdrawn from the temporarily occupied Crimea, which remains a ‘grey zone’ in the area of human rights and fundamental freedoms for the local population," he said.

The diplomat stressed that Russia's repressive policy, which is particularly directed against the Crimean Tatars, continues: "Dozens of them remain illegally detained on trumped-up charges of participation in the activities of the so-called ‘terrorist organization’.”

He also recalled that 45 Crimean Tatars, who had gathered near the Russian Supreme Court in Moscow for a peaceful rally in support of their compatriots, were immediately illegally detained by Russian security forces.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine lodged a resolute protest in this regard and called on the international community to condemn those illegal actions, to strengthen the political, diplomatic and sanction pressure on the aggressor state in order to stop the persecutions of Crimean Tatar people, as well as to demand that the Russian Federation must immediately release illegally detained Ukrainian citizens," Tsymbaliuk noted.

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