On 19 November 2018, the Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in ARC Borys Babin together with the officials of the Mission’s Kyiv office met with the journalists’ delegation of leading web and print publications of the Republic of Belarus.

Borys Babin informed about the current activity of the Mission, its main directions of work and actual results.

The Permanent Representative outlined the current military, economic, social and ecological situation in the temporarily occupied Crimea by highlighting the actions of the occupying authorities aimed at the militarization of the peninsula and closely correlated issues of energy, transport infrastructure and water supply. Borys Babin gave the actual examples of the Russian occupying authorities to set up fictional “national and cultural autonomies” to increase the pressure on the international community and ethnic-kin states in order to promote the recognition of the attempt of annexation of the peninsula by the state-aggressor.

The Permanent Representative reviewed the systemic violation of the international maritime law on freedom of navigation in the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Straight, particularly the baseless stopping of the vessels during their passage through the Kerch Straight to the seaports of Berdyansk and Mariupol by the Russian border guard service.

Borys Babin told about the violation of the fundamental rights and freedoms of Crimean residents by the occupying authorities, including the freedom of the media by citing the rules of international law. The participants of the meeting discussed the illegal massive delivery of goods from the occupied peninsula to Belarus as well as the visits of the Crimean authorities there and pointed out the need to act against the aggressor of the temporarily occupied Crimea by imposition of additional sanctions specifically. The Permanent Representative payed particular attention to the regulations of entry to/exit from the temporarily occupied Crimea by foreigners and stressed on negative consequences for the perpetrators of the Ukrainian legislation.