Kuleba: Russia’s military presence in Crimea has more than doubled over past seven years

Kuleba: Russia’s military presence in Crimea has more than doubled over past seven years

Ukrinform
Since the beginning of the occupation of Crimea, Russia has multiplied its military presence on the Ukrainian peninsula.

"Over the past seven years, the Russian military presence on the peninsula has more than doubled," Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba said at the United Nations Security Council high-level Arria-formula meeting on Crimea on March 12.

As the minister noted, Russia's subversive policy is aimed both at legitimizing the attempt to annex the peninsula, consolidate the status quo and at "projecting its military power from Crimea to the entire Azov-Black Sea region and the Mediterranean Sea."

Kuleba also drew attention to other negative trends in the occupied Crimea, including changes in the demographic structure, large-scale human rights violations, political persecution and harassment of the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar communities.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine pointed out the barbaric treatment and looting of UNESCO World Heritage sites and cultural sites on the temporarily occupied peninsula.

"The world cannot turn a blind eye to the deteriorating situation on the peninsula and the temporarily occupied territories in eastern Ukraine and continue its relations with Russia ‘as usual’. This is the worst thing that can happen today," Kuleba stressed.

In this regard, he considers it extremely important to "maintain a firm common position on the occupation, developed within the UN, the EU and other regional and international organizations." The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine noted that there were no reasons to reconsider or weaken this position at present.

Kuleba stressed the need for a long-term vision and decisive action to overcome the negative consequences of the occupation of Crimea and ensure the restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity.

In view of this, he reminded that Ukraine had initiated the Crimean Platform as a new format of consultations and coordination.

"This is a flexible international mechanism that provides for a long-term strategic vision of the de-occupation of Crimea in order to consolidate international efforts and strengthen the synergy of relevant processes at the intergovernmental, parliamentary and expert levels," the minister said.

He invited all UN member states to join the initiative.

As reported, the inaugural summit of the Crimean Platform is scheduled for August 23, 2021 in Kyiv. The Ukrainian and international plan for the de-occupation of Crimea is expected to be presented.

ol

While citing and using any materials on the Internet, links to the website ukrinform.net not lower than the first paragraph are mandatory. In addition, citing the translated materials of foreign media outlets is possible only if there is a link to the website ukrinform.net and to the website of a foreign media outlet. Citing and using materials in offline media, mobile apps, Smart TV are allowed only with written permission from Ukrinform. News and publications marked as "Advertisement" and "PR" and articles in the section "Releases" include promoted content, and an advertiser is responsible for the content.

© 2015-2024 Ukrinform. All rights reserved.

Website design Studio Laconica

Extended searchHide extended search
By period:
-