REUTERS

Russia has moved to Crimea for permanent residence a total of 108,000 Russian citizens, according to Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Volodymyr Yelchenko.

Speaking at the UN Security Council briefing on the situation in Ukraine, held in New York October 30, Yelchenko said: "Russia keeps ignoring the order of the International Court of Justice issued one year ago that required, among other things, to refrain from maintaining or imposing limitations on the ability of the Crimean Tatar community to preserve its representative institutions, including the Mejlis as well as to ensure the availability of education in the Ukrainian language."

"Despite the clear meaning of this Order, an entire year has passed and Russia continues to maintain its ban of the Mejlis and the number of students studying in the Ukrainian language dropped from over 13,000 in the 2013-2014 academic year to just 172 in the 2017-2018 academic year," Yelchenko said.

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"Take a moment and think of these numbers: over 13,000 and 172. What a difference!"

"Add to that the fact that over the period of 2014-2017, 108 thousand people moved from the Russian Federation to Crimea and Sevastopol. What is it if not a deliberate policy to change the demographic composition of the region?" said the Ambassador.

As UNIAN reported earlier, over the period of the Russian occupation, over 12,000 Crimea residents were drafted into the Russian army. This fall, another 3,000 local residents are planned to be recruited. A total of seven draft campaigns have already been carried out in Crimea since Russia seized the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014. Ukraine authorities have filed an application with the International Criminal Court providing the evidence of this crime

I also appreciate the briefers’ presentations and analysis of the situation as well as expressed support to sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.