Russia without consideration returned Ukraine its note of protest in connection with the trip of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Crimea, Moscow calls on Kiev to stop encroaching on the territorial integrity of Russia, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
Lavrov visited Sudak in mid-August, where he talked with members of the Tavrida art cluster.
“On August 17, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs returned without consideration a note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, which contained a protest in connection with the trip of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Crimea to participate in the Tavrida art cluster. The note was returned due to the presence of unacceptable terminology in it. , with the help of which the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry tried to question the Russian ownership of Crimea”, Zakharova said at a briefing.
“What advice can you give your Ukrainian colleagues? It is high time for them to realize that the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol are constituent entities of the Russian Federation. This issue was finally resolved in 2014 by the Crimeans themselves at a referendum in accordance with the right of nations to self-determination, which is enshrined in the documents of the UN, OSCE and the Ukrainian legislation itself”, Zakharova added.
She noted that the Russian Federation calls on the Ukrainian side “to stop attempts to encroach on the territorial integrity of our country”, confirms that she will continue to return “similar notes of protest concerning Crimea and other subjects of the Russian Federation.”