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Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine for Crimea Anton Korynevych says people on the Russia-occupied peninsula have been waiting for Ukraine.

"In fact, we communicate very closely with those people who are in the temporarily occupied territory and who do not support the regime of the occupying state, and these are human rights activists, lawyers, and our ordinary citizens. I think it is very important to say that there is no total support for the ideas of the so-called 'Russian world' in Crimea. There are people who are waiting for Ukraine, who are waiting for messages from Ukraine first, then for real actions," he said at a briefing in Kyiv, according to an UNIAN correspondent.

Representatives of the Ukrainian government are in touch with all those who want to "hear Ukraine" and "see Ukraine."

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"Of course, we do not communicate with the occupying authorities – it's out of the question here," he said.

UNIAN memo. Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea in March 2014 after its troops had occupied the peninsula. An illegal referendum was held for Crimeans to decide on accession to Russia. De-facto Crimean authorities reported that allegedly 96.77% of the Crimean population had voted for joining Russia. On March 18, 2014, the so-called agreement on the accession of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to Russia was signed in the Kremlin. The West did not recognize the annexation in response to which sanctions against Russia were introduced. Ukraine's parliament voted to designate February 20, 2014, as the official date when the temporary occupation of Crimea began.