Russia's rail link with Crimea violates UN Convention – Ukrainian Foreign Ministry

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has expressed its protest in connection with Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to the temporarily occupied Crimea and the opening of the railway part of the so-called "Crimean bridge," according to a statement posted on the ministry's website.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expresses a strong protest in connection with the uncoordinated visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the opening of railway traffic on the so-called 'Crimean bridge' across the Kerch Strait, which the Russian side built without the consent of Ukraine and with gross violation of international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," the statement reads.

It also notes that neither the visits of Russian officials to Crimea nor the construction of the bridge, as well as any other actions of the occupation administration, can in any way change the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, secured in the Constitution of Ukraine, as an integral part of the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.

"Russia's actions on the so-called 'Crimean bridge' grossly violate the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, bilateral contractual obligations to Ukraine and fundamentally contradict generally accepted norms and principles of international law. Neither Ukraine nor any civilized country in the world will recognize the Kremlin's futile attempts to legitimize the annexation of part of the sovereign territory of Ukraine," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry added.

The ministry reiterated that the Russian Federation, as the occupying state, is fully responsible for the consequences of its internationally wrongful acts.

"We demand that the Russian side cease illegal activities and any activity in the territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation - in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.

According to the statement, a respective note of protest has been sent to the Russian side.

On December 23, Russian President Vladimir Putin opened a rail link on the Kerch Strait bridge.

In this regard, the Ukrainian president's office in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea emphasized the illegality of Russia's railway link with the annexed peninsula and recalled that any entry or exit to or from the temporarily occupied Crimea should take place only with the consent of the Ukrainian side through an entry and exit checkpoint.