Kiev Says Ukraine Had 'Every Right' To Block North Crimean Canal

KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th September, 2020) Ukraine had every right to block the artificially created North Crimean Canal, the authorities did not block the bed of the Dnieper River, which "freely flows through the territory of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia," Anton Korynevych, whom Ukraine calls "permanent representative of the president of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea", said.

"The Dnieper River does not flow through the territory of Crimea. Ukraine did not block the bed of the Dnieper River, but blocked an artificial technological structure (canal), which is located on the territory of Ukraine, under the jurisdiction of Ukraine and is financed from the state budget of Ukraine," Korynevych wrote on Facebook.

"Ukraine has every right to do so. No other state has the right to dispose of the channel, this is a Ukrainian structure, and only Ukraine may determine how to use it." The Dnieper "flows freely through the territory of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. Nobody has blocked its bed and access to its waters for people living on the territory through which the Dnieper River flows," he said.

The Crimean Peninsula rejoined Russia after nearly 97 percent of voters supported the move in a 2014 referendum. Nevertheless, the Ukrainian authorities insist that the territory was illegally seized from them by Russia, which Moscow strongly denies. Subsequently, Kiev cut the water supply from the North Crimean Canal to the peninsula, which previously relied on Ukraine for 85 percent of its freshwater needs.