The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has expressed protest to Syrian authorities over their recent talks with a Crimean delegation in Damascus, the ministry's press service said on Thursday.<
KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th October, 2018) The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has expressed protest to Syrian authorities over their recent talks with a Crimean delegation in Damascus, the ministry's press service said on Thursday.
The delegation, led by Sergei Aksyonov, the head of the region, held a two-day working visit to Syria from Monday through Wednesday, during which bilateral economic and scientific cooperation was discussed. Syrian President Bashar Assad qualified the visit as the "new beginning" of bilateral cooperation.
"Ukraine resolutely condemns the Syrian Arab Republic's official contacts with the occupational Crimean administration ... In light of this, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry states that Syrian officials' talks with representatives of the occupational Crimean government ... are a serious breach of the Ukrainian state sovereignty, meddling in its inner affairs, and also a breach of basic rules and principles of the international law ... The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has handed over a note of protest to the Syrian side," the ministry said in a statement.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry believes that Syrian talks with the Crimean delegation were doing "irreparable harm" to the Ukrainian-Syrian diplomatic ties.
Crimea rejoined Russia in 2014, when 97 percent of those who participated in the referendum on the matter voted in favor of reunification. Despite this, the reunification was not recognized by Kiev, which prompted tensions in the Russian-Ukrainian relations, and also in Russia's relations with a number of western countries. Russia has repeatedly said that the vote was held in compliance with international law and following a democratic procedure.
