Ukraine highly appreciates support of the European Parliament and is grateful for the adoption on 14 June 2018 of a resolution on Russia's large-scale human rights violations and politically motivated persecutions against citizens of Ukraine. A resolute demand by the Members of the European Parliament to the Kremlin regime to release all Ukrainian citizens, illegally imprisoned under fabricated charges in Russia and temporarily occupied Crimea, is an important step to enhance international pressure on Russia.

It is symbolic that the decision of the European Parliament was adopted on the first day of the 2018 FIFA World Cup that the Kremlin cynically tries to use for diverting attention of the international community from its outrageous crimes and systematic human rights violations.

The European Parliament resolutely expressed its solidarity with Oleg Sentsov, a citizen of Ukraine, who was illegally detained in a Russian prison, and demanded from the Russian authorities his immediate and unconditional release.

Ukraine welcomes the call of the European Parliament on the EU Member States to maintain a consolidated position on strengthening sanction pressure on Russia and to consider targeted restrictive measures against those responsible for politically motivated persecutions.

We reiterate our demand to the Kremlin regime to stop human rights violations in the temporarily occupied Crimea and immediately release all citizens of Ukraine, illegally detained on political grounds.