Kuleba, Abdrakhmanov agree on need for depoliticized approach to national minorities issue

According to the report, Kuleba congratulated Abdrakhmanov on his appointment as OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities and wished him success in his new position.

Kuleba said Ukraine considered the diversity of national minorities as its peculiarity and national wealth and intended to continue to give priority to the preservation and development of the national identity of minorities in accordance with its international obligations. "The goal is to make sure that representatives of national minorities could fully preserve and develop their identity and at the same time be citizens of Ukraine," he said.

Kuleba stressed that the issue of protection of the rights of national minorities should not be the subject of politicization. Abdrakhmanov and Kuleba agreed on the need to depoliticize and avoid an excessive international context in the issue of national minorities.

Kuleba informed Abdrakhmanov about the development by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of new legislation in the field of national minorities, which should meet modern world standards in this area. At the same time, he noted that Ukraine "will not allow any foreign state to influence its content in any way."

Kuleba expressed confidence that Abdrakhmanov would be able to increase the effectiveness of the OSCE's response to serious challenges in the field of observance of the rights of national minorities, in particular in the Russian-occupied Crimea and some districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

op