Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva - Trend:
Ukraine urges Russia to abandon its support to subversive and terrorist groups that seek to destabilize the situation in the country, minister-counselor and acting head of Ukrainian embassy Rustam Rustamov said.
He made the remarks at a press conference in Baku today, on May 14.
"We will continue our counter-terrorism operation, as well as the political dialogue in the country," Rustamov said.
He underscored that around 30 percent of the population participated in the referendum in Crimea which was not recognized by Kiev. However, half of them voted for maintaining Crimea within Ukraine.
Rustamov went on to add that this contradicts the information spread by the Crimean authorities.
"The OSCE mission flatly denied Russia's claims that the Russian-speaking population was previously persecuted in Crimea. Currently, the Crimean Tatars are in the most difficult situation there. Ukraine made every effort to improve the living conditions of the Crimean Tatars in these territories."
"Around 99 percent of the Crimean Tatars didn't participate in the referendum on Crimea's status and this is unacceptable," the minister-counselor added.
He stressed that the pseudo referendums in Ukraine's southeastern regions (Lugansk and Donetsk provinces) will have no impact on the country's territorial integrity.
"We have information that the vast majority, some 90 percent of the citizens didn't participate in these pseudo referendums. During the public opinion poll conducted in all provinces of Ukraine, including in Lugansk in April, around 70 percent of the population expressed their support for maintaining Ukraine's integrity," Rustamov said.
He went on to add that Ukraine condemns the recent visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Crimea and Sevastopol.
The minister-counselor said Ukraine does not rule out the fact that the struggle for natural resources, including shale gas, may prompt Russia to control this region.
Edited by C.N.