SIMFEROPOL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th November, 2020) A delegation of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) will visit Russia's Crimea to explore the situation related to the water supply of the peninsula, Natalya Poklonskaya, the deputy chairwoman of the Russian lower house's committee on international affairs, told Sputnik on Friday.
In June, Poklonskaya sent a message to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet urging the agency to condemn the actions of the Ukrainian authorities that had unilaterally shut down the water supply to the peninsula, and calling for measures to ensure the supply of Dnieper water through the North Crimean Canal. In September, Crimea has sent a request to the United Nations asking to investigate the water blockade.
"In response to my request, representatives of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed readiness to visit Crimea and asked to accompany them. I requested for the composition of the delegation and a convenient time for them to visit," Poklonskaya said.
The lawmaker added that the dates of the visit and the composition of the delegation were being specified.
The Crimean Peninsula rejoined Russia after nearly 97 percent of voters supported the move in a 2014 referendum. Nevertheless, Kiev insists that the territory was illegally seized from them by Russia, which Moscow strongly denies.
Subsequently, Kiev cut the water supply to the peninsula, which previously relied on Ukraine for 85 percent of its freshwater needs.
