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On February 24 in Geneva, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius took part in the event jointly organized by Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland on human rights situation in Crimea and Sevastopol, illegally annexed by the Russian Federation, with a special focus on political prisoners and arbitrary detentions.  

„Russia‘s continuous human rights violations in Crimea cannot be tolerated. Lithuania will continue to support the efforts by the human rights activists to fight Kremlin‘s intense and systemic repressive policy. We call on international community to join us in this endeavor“,-  Linas Linkevičius said.

The Minister also stressed that Russia’s consistent denial of UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission‘s access to Crimea  should be seen as aggressive behaviour and it makes the testimonies of the political prisoners even more pertinent.

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Latvia and Poland, as well as Ukrainian political prisoners Volodymyr Balukh and Edem Bekirov recently released by Russia as part of prisoners exchange, also took part in the side event, organized on the margins of the 43rd Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The participants commended Ukraine‘s efforts towards ending the war in eastern Ukraine and stressed Russia’s responsibility and need for tangible steps in this regard. They unanimously stressed the need to keep the issue of illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol among the priorities of international political agenda.