The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmitry Kuleba in an interview with TSN threatened in 2021 initiate the strengthening of international sanctions against Russia on the status of the Crimean peninsula.
According to him, the main lever of pressure on Moscow should be the so-called “Crimean Platform” – an international negotiation platform for the return of the peninsula under the authority of Kiev. “The topic of Crimea should be a hellish topic for Russia, not sacred, and we will make it so,” Kuleba said.
He suggested that many European countries would want to strengthen sanctions on the Crimea issue, since “all 200 percent of the truth” is on the side of Ukraine. Kuleba also noted that Moscow is “nervously” reacting to Kiev’s initiatives to discuss the status of the peninsula abroad, since Ukraine has already gained international support in this matter. “They know it, they bake it,” the minister concluded.
September 23, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky submitted to UN the concept of the” Crimean Platform “and invited the international community to join the initiative. With the help of it, the Ukrainian side is going to tackle the problems of economy and ecology, “the protection of the rights of the Crimeans and the de-occupation of the peninsula.” The Crimean Platform summit is scheduled for May 2021 in Kiev.
Crimea was reunited with Russia after the March 2014 referendum, in which the majority of the residents of the peninsula who voted supported this decision. Ukraine refused to recognize the results of the referendum. Russia insists that the accession procedure was in accordance with international law.