Autonomous Republic of Crimea

Minister of National Defence Mihai Fifor, speaking on Thursday on the occasion of a visit to the 4th "Gemina" Infantry Division, said that Romania is paying close attention to developments in the Black Sea region after Crimea's illegal annexation by the Russian Federation and wants the subject to be entered on the agenda of the NATO Summit this summer.

France said on Sunday it would not recognize Russia's election in the Crimea peninsula, four years to the day after Russia formally annexed the territory from Ukraine in a move slammed by the West as illegal.

Pushkov did this on Twitter, commenting on Washington's condemnation of President Putin's visit to Crimea.

Russia is ready to surrender to Ukraine the warships and air transport from Crimea, but they are in a desolate state and Moscow is ready to allow Ukrainian specialists to use non-transport ammunition, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, according to RIA Novosti, quoted by Focus News Agency .

Serbia was the only country in the Balkans to back Russia over a UN General Assembly resolution put forward by Ukraine, which condemns the human rights situation in Russian-annexed Crimea and calls Russia an "occupying power".

EU's "double standards on Crimea's reunification with Russia are a bad practice," Czech President Milos Zeman has said, according to TASS.

As an example of these double standards, Zeman mentioned Kosovo and Crimea.

The European Union plans to extend the sanctions against Russia imposed in connection with the occupation of the Crimea and the intervention in the Donbass for another 6 months.

This was announced by the European Commission, quoted by the France Press Agency. The decision is expected to be formally taken on September 14 at the meeting of the EU Home Affairs Council.

The Ukrainian embassy in Belgrade sent an open letter to Kusturica on Tuesday, warning that anyone who breaches the country's Law on Temporarily Occupied Territories by visiting Russian-annexed Crimea will be prosecuted.

"One of the punishments for a breach of the law is a ban on entering Ukrainian territory for a five-year period," the embassy said in the letter.

Chairman of NATO's Military Committee Petr Pavel has said that Russia’s growing military prowess was undeniable - even if its intentions were unclear.

President Emmanuel Macron said Monday France refuses to recognise Russia's "annexation" of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, AFP reported.
Speaking after talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Paris, Macron said: "France is committed to Ukraine's sovereignty with its recognised borders."/FOCUS News Agency/