Contents tagged with crimea

  • Turkish Ambassador in Ukraine: Russia inspires Ankara to work closely with Kiev

    The Ambassador of Turkey to Ukraine, Yönet Tezel, stated that cooperation between Kiev and Ankara is becoming closer because of Russian aggression in Ukraine. “Russia inspires us to cooperate more. In this context, Crimea and Crimean Tatars, who are very dear to us, are important. We hope that the issue on Crimea will not disappear from the agenda on the international level,” Tezel said at the international forum, “Hybrid decisions of security in the Black Sea region”, that took place in Odessa, …

  • President of Bulgaria calls for Savchenko’s release; says Crimea is Ukraine

    During his visit to Kiev, Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev told his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko that Crimea belongs to Ukraine. He also stated that Nadiya Savchenko and other Ukrainian political prisoners held in Russia should be released immediately, Poroshenko’s Press Secretary Svyatoslav Tsegolko wrote on Twitter, as reported by Interfax-Ukraine.

    "The President of Bulgaria: 'In every speech I emphasize that the Crimea is Ukraine. And Ukraine is Europe,'" Tsegolko wrote.

    The …

  • Security Service of Ukraine releases names of 1,400 of its employees who defected

    The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) disclosed the names of 1,391 of its former employees who defected following the Ukrainian Revolution in the spring of 2014. The list was published on the SSU’s website on Saturday, RBC reported. Most of the SSU employees on the list were stationed in the Crimea prior to its annexation in March of 2014.

    The list was primarily comprised of individuals who served in the 3rd SSU Alpha Group, located in Simferopol in the Crimea, as well as employees of the Main …

  • Ukrainian Intelligence: Protest sentiments are growing in Crimea

    Protest sentiments are growing in Crimea, and clear proof of this is an emergence of pro-Ukrainian inscriptions and symbols in the annexed territory, as stated by a representative of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Vadim Skibitskiy, Krym.Realii reported.“The problems with the electicity and water supply remain unresolved. Public-sector employees wages are declining. Meanwhile, the cost of living is increasing in the occupied Crimea. Such situation leads …

  • Aksyonov: Kerch Strait Bridge cannot be built without Ukraine's consent

    The head of Russian Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, said that Ukraine will have to agree on the construction of the Kerch Strait Bridge, the Kommersant newspaper wrote.

    According to Aksyonov, this is due to "international legal norms according to which the Sea of Azov is a joint area of navigation.”

    "It is 'unlikely' that we'll get Ukraine's consent,” the official noted, adding that construction of an underwater tunnel would be cheaper and would not require consent from Kiev.

    Russia and Ukraine …

  • Aksyonov blames high prices in Crimea on 'speculators'

    The Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Russian Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, explained that the high prices on medicines and food products in the Crimean peninsula are being driven by speculators. The prices are 30-40% higher than in adjacent Russian regions: Krasnodar and Rostov.

    “The prices on food products in specific areas are 40% higher than in the Krasnodar region. The price on pasta products is 46% higher. There are concerns of speculation in half of these cases, a parasitic …

  • Russian official: Ukraine is attempting to destabilize Crimea

    The Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and the former head of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB), Nikolai Patrushev, spoke on Monday about the threat of destabilization in the Crimea. "The threat of destabilization of the political situation in the Crimean Federal District still remains. Primarily, this is due to the political challenges and the economic pressure from our western opponents," Patrushev said at a meeting in Yalta on Monday.

    The …

  • Ukrainian official: State losses caused by the annexation of Crimea amount to $38 billion

    The General Military Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine estimated the damage caused by the annexation of the Crimea to be 1 trillion hryvnia ($38 billion), as stated by the head of the agency, Anatolii Matios, at a briefing on March 21st, reported Krym.Realii.

    "According to the preliminary conclusions of the experts, the damage to the Ukrainian state caused by the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by Russia amounts to more than 1 trillion hryvnia. This number takes onto account only the value of …

  • Human rights activists tell the UN of Russian-Crimean casualties in Syria

    At a meeting on the annexation of Crimea at the United Nations Security Council, human rights activists reported that several Crimeans who had served in the Russian army had been killed in Syria.

    This was said by the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations, Vladimir Elchenko, during a press conference in New York after the UN meeting, Ukrinform reports.

    "Some of the sources during today's Arria-formula meeting and human rights experts reported on the recent return of a …

  • Crimean Tatar leader: Putin visited Crimea to 'reassure' the people

    The head of the Central Election Commission of the Crimean Tatars, Zahir Semdlyaev, believes that the purpose of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the Crimea on March 18th was to “soothe the Crimean people who live in poor socio-economic conditions.”

    "He arrived to promise, to reassure local residents a little, to say that we must still be patient for about another hundred years, and then everything will be fine for sure. But in any case, they [the officials] are fine now, and about …