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KIEV, May 5. /TASS/. The Ukrainian government has excluded Crimean port cities from the list of Ukraine’s international ports, the government’s website said on Tuesday.
The Ukrainian government has thus made "amendments to the Cabinet of Ministers' resolution of June 26, 2013 on approving the list of Ukraine’s sea ports open for foreign vessels."
The document excludes the port cities of Sevastopol, Yevpatoria, Yalta, Feodosiya and Kerch from the list of Ukraine’s international ports.
The Crimean authorities held a referendum on March 16, 2014 on local residents’ attitude to Crimea’s reunification with Russia. With a record turnout of over 80%, 96.7% of Crimean residents and 95.6% of electors living in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol voted for the Black Sea peninsula’s reintegration into Russia.
The treaty on integrating the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol into Russia was approved by both houses of the Russian parliament, after which President Vladimir Putin signed a federal law on incorporating two new constituent entities into the Russian Federation.
Kiev has refused to recognize Crimea as part of Russia, despite the referendum’s convincing results.
Crimea used to be part of Russia from 1784 until 1954 when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev handed it over to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in a voluntaristic act. Crimea remained part of independent Ukraine after the USSR collapsed in 1991.