OSCE condemns armed seizure of Crimea

The statement was made during a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council on March 4.

"Together with EU Member States, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Switzerland, Norway and Georgia, we condemned armed seizure of Crimea by Russia in February 2014. We thank partners for supporting territorial integrity of Ukraine, including Crimea! The issue of illegal occupation of Ukrainian Crimea remains in a spotlight of OSCE," Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk posted on Twitter.

In his speech at the Permanent Council meeting, the Ukrainian diplomat reminded the participating delegations of how the Russian armed aggression against Ukraine began and informed about its dire consequences.

Tsymbaliuk noted that the military aggression began on February 20, 2014 - this date is indicated on the medal “For the return of Crimea” of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. In the early morning of February 27, the Russian Special Operations Forces seized the building of the Crimean Parliament, taking under full control the activities of the Ukrainian legitimate bodies of power. Next year, this seizure was marked by President Putin who set February 27 as the Special Operations Forces Day in Russia.

"The fact of establishing effective control over Crimea by the Russian Federation since February 27, 2014 was recognized by the recent decision of the European Court of Human Rights. All subsequent events on the peninsula, including a staged show called by the occupiers as so-called “referendum”, were held at the Russian gunpoint, having no legal implications," Tsymbaliuk said.

As Ukrinform reported, First Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Emine Dzheppar presented the Crimean Platform at the OSCE.

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