Council of Europe should contribute to achieving Crimean Platform goals – Kuleba

He said this during an online meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on May 21, the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.

Kuleba stressed that Russia’s ongoing armed aggression against Ukraine, the systematic failure by Moscow to comply with binding decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, the poisoning of political opponents, and other actions have shown the ineffectiveness of the policy of concessions towards the Russian Federation.

“The concessions to Russia in 2019, when PACE returned its delegation, were justified by the need to involve Moscow in dialogue to protect human rights. After two years, they do not seem to be effective at all. Russian aggression is ongoing and continues to fuel human rights violations," the minister said.

According to him, given the deteriorating human rights situation in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories, Ukraine needs more active involvement of monitoring mechanisms, in particular the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights.

Kuleba expressed gratitude to the partners and the German presidency for supporting the Ukrainian initiative and making the decision by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on "The human rights situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine)." He stressed the importance of further joint work for its proper implementation.

"Ukraine is preparing to launch the Crimean Platform, an initiative designed to respond to the challenges of the Russian occupation of Crimea. The Council of Europe should make contribution to achieving its just goals," he said.

Kuleba expressed gratitude to his colleague and friend, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany Heiko Maas, for the successful presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. He welcomed the beginning of the Hungarian presidency and wished his friend and colleague, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Hungary Péter Szijjártó, successful and constructive work in this post.

The minister stressed that Ukraine would strongly support the efforts of the Hungarian presidency to improve the efficiency of the Council of Europe, and expressed hope that the visit of Péter Szijjártó, as the new chair of the Committee of Ministers, to Donetsk and Luhansk regions in June would contribute to further joint efforts to restore peace and democratic security in Europe.

On May 21, Hungary took over the Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe from Germany during a video conference meeting with representatives of the Organisation’s 47 member states.

As reported, the Crimean Platform is a new consultative and coordination format initiated by Ukraine to improve the efficiency of the international response to the occupation of Crimea, respond to growing security challenges, step up international pressure on Russia, prevent further human rights violations, protect victims of the occupation regime and to achieve the de-occupation of Crimea. Ukraine actively invites other states to join this international initiative.

The first Crimean Platform summit is scheduled for August 23, 2021.

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