Crimea Under Occupation

Bohdan Yaremenko, Chairman of the Maidan of Foreign Affairs, on the Turkish President’s official visit to Ukraine. We hear that next week Turkish President, Recep Erdogan, will visit Ukraine. The event is worth to be thoroughly analyzed. But before, there is one small but significant caveat. In a month, on April 24, the world or at least a big and very important for Ukraine part of it, will honor the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire that took place 100 years ago.

Andriy KLYMENKO, Maidan of Foreign Affairs (Kyiv), BSNews. Turkey is negotiating the resumption of the Zonguldak-Yevpatoriya ferry line with the authorities of the occupied Crimea. A trial ferry trip and statements on it by the Yevpatoriya seaport officials once again confirm the fact that Turkey is no longer a friend to Ukraine or Crimean Tatars. How will the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry respond to this?

Andriy KLYMENKO, Olha KORBUT, Maidan of Foreign Affairs, BSNews, Yalta-Kyiv. Maidan of Foreign Affairs and BSNews monitoring group publishes the blacklist of vessels (3rd edition) that entered Crimean seaports after Crimea was occupied and annexed by Russia. The list currently includes 91 vessels, with 38 Russian, 24 Turkish and 14 Greek vessels.

Andriy KLYMENKO, Head of Supervisory Board, Maidan of FA, BSNews Chief Editor, Yalta-Kyiv. It’s amazing: just three months ago, when the Kremlin signed a shocking act of annexation, for us in Crimea it seemed like it would remain that way for many, many years. Today, despite the increasingly brutal and unpredictable aggression of the Russian Federation in Donbas, it appears that it will happen much faster. Time is accelerated here now. A day is a month. And sometimes even more.