Crimean issue is kept high on world agenda: Ukraine

By Tugcenur Yilmaz

ANKARA (AA) - The Ukrainian Embassy in Ankara said Tuesday that all legal measures will be taken to restore Crimea’s sovereignty.

“The Crimean theme is definitely kept high on the world agenda,” said the embassy in a statement on the 5th anniversary of Russia’s Occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol .

Eastern Ukraine has been wracked by conflict since March 2014 after Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

Conflicting parties signed the Minsk cease-fire agreement in February 2015 with the mediation of France and Germany, but the fighting continued, claiming more than 10,000 lives, according to the UN.

“To defend its territorial integrity and the rights of the population in Crimea, Ukraine carries out active actions both within the country and at the international arena,” the statement went on to say.

It also emphasized that Russian occupation was the first attempt of one sovereign state to change borders of another sovereign state since 1945.

“By committing an armed aggression, Russia violated a large number of norms of international law [...], as well as numerous bilateral agreements,” said the statement, adding that Russia deliberately disrespects its own commitments on respecting existing borders of Ukraine envisaged in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum.

“The Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol remain an integral part of Ukraine, which is temporarily occupied by Russian troops as a result of an act of aggression,” adding that Ukraine will never recognize the illegal annexation.

Along with many UN countries, the U.S., the EU, and Turkey do not recognize Crimea as Russian territory.