Crimea

Political trials and illegal arrests of Tatars are of great concern to Turkey, a senior diplomat said on March 12. 

Serbia on Monday was among 17 countries that voted against the latest United Nations resolution calling on Russia to withdraw its forces from Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, which Moscow occupied and then annexed in 2014.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry reaffirmed Turkey's support to the territorial integrity of Ukraine on the occasion of the anniversaries of the Crimean Tatar and Circassian exiles.

Romania reiterates its strong condemnation of the illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation, a fact that "violates the international principles and norms and continues to harm stability and security in the Black Sea region and the Euro-Atlantic space," reads a release by the Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) six years on since this

Turkey on March 15 denounced the Russian annexation of Crimea on its sixth anniversary and voiced support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

On the sixth anniversary of Russia's attempted annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo released a press statement to confirm that Crimea belongs to Ukraine.

Cyprus is blocking new European Union sanctions against several officials from Russia-annexed Crimea in a bid to secure EU backing for tougher action against Turkey in a separate row over drilling for hydrocarbons, three diplomatic sources said.

Nicosia denied linking the two issues and said it needed time to review the proposed measures against the Crimean officials.

Poklonskaya, who became famous as the first prosecutor of Crimea after returning the peninsula to Russia, points out that external intervention contributed to this.

As Ukraine embraces European values, human rights lawyers in the country have become increasingly active in their attempts to tackle the harsh violations that have resulted from the annexation of Crimea and the ongoing armed conflict with separatists in the eastern Donbas region of the country.

Romania will spend 2.5 billion euros to modernize the Black Sea military base as part of counteracting Russia's growing presence in the region, according to The Times, quoted by the FOCUS News Agency. Mikhail Koglignichanu Airbase, located about 200 km. east of Bucharest, will be aligned with NATO standards, as evidenced by documents published by local news sites.