The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Ukraine has reacted to Russian President Vladimir Putin's ban on land ownership in the occupied Crimea by non-Russian citizens, including Ukrainian nationals, having called his decree legally null and void.
Read alsoPutin's ban on land ownership in occupied Crimea by Ukrainians comes into forceThe ban on land ownership in most regions of Crimea is in line with the Russian policy of oppression, discrimination and displacement of Ukrainian citizens from the temporarily occupied peninsula, the spokesman for MFA Ukraine, Oleh Nikolenko, told UNIAN on March 20.
"In the worst traditions of its historical predecessors, the Russian leadership is actually continuing the Russification of Crimea," he said.
According to Nikolenko, Russian President's Decree No. 201 is legally null and void, and it won't have legal consequences for Ukraine.
"The violated rights of legal owners to land plots will be restored after the restoration of our state's sovereignty in Crimea," he said.
Russia, he says, once again demonstrates defiant disregard for the fundamental norms principles of law, including international one.
Nikolenko assured that such actions would not remain without due assessment by the international community.
"The deprivation of Ukrainians of land ownership in Crimea will be in the focus of the Crimean Platform [designed to end the occupation of the peninsula and integrate it into Ukraine] and its inaugural summit this year," he summed up.
Background
- On March 20, 2020, Putin, by his decree, expanded the list of territories where foreigners are not allowed to own land. The list includes most of the areas in Russia-occupied Crimea.
- The ban came into force on March 20, 2021.
- The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Ukraine would appeal to international courts over Russia's ban on Ukrainians' ownership of land on the peninsula, which was seized by Russia from Ukraine in March 2014.
- The European Union said Russian President Vladimir Putin's order banning non-Russian citizens from owning land in Russia-occupied Crimea violates international humanitarian law.
