Ukraine is deeply concerned with ongoing violations by the Russian Federation of human rights and fundamental freedoms on the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, and certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions that are temporarily occupied by Russia.

Reports of international organizations and human rights institutions unanimously register massive persecutions by the Russian occupying authorities of ethnic Ukrainians and indigenous Crimean Tatar population on political and national grounds, acts of violence, intimidation, restrictions of freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of assembly and association. It is symptomatic that the international watchdog organization “Freedom House” in its recent report “Freedom in the World 2016” qualified the situation with political rights and civil liberties in the occupied Crimea as “not free”.

We are convinced that illegal actions by the Russian occupying authorities must be a subject of particular attention of the international community with a view to safeguarding unfettered access to the occupied Crimean Peninsula of main conventional and monitoring mechanisms of the Council of Europe and other international organizations.

We expect that the visit to the occupied Crimea of the Council of Europe Secretary General’s Special Representative Gérard Stoudmann will become a first step, which will stimulate the Russian Federation to safeguard unconditional adherence to its international obligations in the field of human rights.

Ukraine calls on the international community to unite efforts and demand from the Russian Federation to cease all illegal actions on Ukraine’s sovereign territory and to halt fueling of interethnic hatred, xenophobia and racism, politically motivated persecutions of dissidents and civil activists.