Kuleba: Zelensky-Putin meeting in Crimea implausible

21.07.2020 11:23

Ukrinform

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba considers that a meeting between President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin in Crimea is implausible as long as the peninsula is a temporarily occupied territory.

"The meeting of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky with President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin in Crimea is possible only during the removal of the Russian flag and raising of the Ukrainian flag there in connection with the restoration of Ukraine's full sovereignty over the temporarily occupied Crimea," Kuleba said at a briefing on Tuesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Unfortunately, he noted, Putin went to Crimea with a completely different purpose: to participate in keel laying ceremony for the Russian Black Sea Fleet ships, thus demonstrating the further strengthening of the military presence in Crimea and the violation of Russia's obligations as an occupying power. "Therefore, a meeting in Crimea or a meeting on the border is absolutely implausible," the minister stressed.

As reported, Putin arrived in the Russian-occupied Crimea on Monday, July 20.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine condemned yet another visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the annexed Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, calling it a gross violation of Ukraine’s state sovereignty.