FM Kuleba: Russia deliberately turns Crimea into military base

“It is impossible to demilitarize Crimea now and, I am afraid, it will be impossible to do so until the end of the occupation because Russia has deliberately turned Crimea into a military base, from which it is trying to scare everyone away. We need new joint efforts in the Black Sea. Otherwise, the Black Sea will be as lost as the Azov Sea,” Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba said in an interview with NV, Ukrinform reports.

Kuleba stressed that the situation in the Black Sea requires a new strategy of NATO members together with Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova.

“The Sea of ​​Azov and the problem of the Kerch Bridge is one of the most difficult and practically unsolved, given the banal geography because geography is completely controlled by the Russian Federation – both from the Taman Peninsula and from the Crimean Peninsula," the minister said.

According to the chief Ukrainian diplomat, the Black Sea is now one of the key issues of Ukraine's foreign policy, as well as in relations with NATO, the United States, and the Black Sea countries.

Kuleba informed that President Zelensky had a concrete initiative in this regard and he sought joint efforts of NATO members, Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova to create a balance of security in the Black Sea.

“This should be not exercises, which are held and then forgotten, but joint permanent mechanisms and actions,” said the foreign minister.

The Crimea Platform is a new consultative and coordination format initiated by Ukraine to step up the efficiency of international response to the occupation of Crimea, respond to growing security challenges, increase international pressure on Russia, prevent further human rights violations, protect victims of the occupation regime, and achieve the main goal: to de-occupy Crimea and restore Ukraine’s sovereignty over the peninsula.

The activity of the Crimea Platform will be officially launched at the inaugural summit in Kyiv on August 23, 2021.

ol