Russian Lawmaker Says UN Rights Agency 'Deliberately Ignoring' Crimea's Water Crisis

SIMFEROPOL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th June, 2021) Natalya Poklonskaya, the deputy chairwoman of the Russian lower house's committee on international affairs, told Sputnik that the silence by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights with regards to the Crimean water blockade may indicate that the UN body is ignoring the issue.

In May of last year, Poklonskaya sent a message to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, urging the agency to condemn the actions of the Ukrainian authorities who had unilaterally shut down the water supply to the peninsula, and calling for measures to ensure the water supply through the North Crimean Canal. The OHCHR, in turn, requested additional information on the peninsula's water supply.

"There have been no new responses to my message. It seems that the issue is deliberately being delayed or ignored," the lawmaker 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 water supply to the peninsula, which previously relied on Ukraine for 85 percent of its freshwater needs.