The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses its resolute protest in relation to a recent wave of illegal searches and detentions of the Crimean Tatars that took place yesterday in Alushta, Bilogorsk and Simferopol districts in the temporarily occupied Crimea by Russia. As like in previous cases, the Russian occupation administration continues the repressions against residents of the Crimea under the pretext of “fight against terrorism”.

Thus, eight additional Crimean Tatars – Ruslan Nagayev, Eldar Kantimirov, Ruslan Mesutov, Lenur Khalilov, Riza Omerov, Enver Omerov, Aider Dzhepparov and Eskender Suleymanov – were detained by the occupation administration in the fabricated case of “Hizb ut-Tahrir”.

By conducting punitive actions on the occupied peninsula, Russia in fact reacts to hearings, which take place at the moment in the UN International Court of Justice on Application of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Arbitral Tribunal in the matter of a dispute concerning the coastal state rights in the Black Sea, Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait. 
The demonstration of such confidence in impunity and the disrespect to international jurisdictional bodies should receive an appropriate response.

We call on strengthening of political, economic and sanctions pressure on the aggressor state in order for Russia to stop violation of human rights in the temporarily occupied Crimea, to release all the illegally detained citizens of Ukraine and to speed-up the deoccupation of of the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.

The Russian Federation must implement to their full the resolutions of the UN General Assembly “Territorial integrity of Ukraine” of 27 March 2014, “Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine)" of 19 December 2016, 19 December 2017 and 22 December 2018, and as well as the order of the International Court of Justice regarding provisional measures in the in the case of Ukraine vs Russia regarding the application  of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.