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Crimea and Sevastopol

Kiev issues note of protest to Russia over defense minister's trip to Crimea

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry claimed that Shoigu's visit to Crimea marked a yet another act of what is described as "blatant disregard for Ukraine's sovereignty on the part of Russian government"

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu Sergey Bobylev/TASS

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu

© Sergey Bobylev/TASS

KIEV, September 9. /TASS/. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry has issued a note of protest to the Russian Foreign Ministry in connection with a working trip of the Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, to Crimea, the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.

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"In the wake of a yet another stay of the Russian Defense Minister Shoigu on the territory of the occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol on September 9 that was not coordinated with the Ukrainian side, the ministry forwarded a note of protest to the Russian foreign-policy managing department," the report said.

The ministry claimed that Shoigu's visit to Crimea marked a yet another act of what is described as "blatant disregard for Ukraine's sovereignty on the part of Russian government."

Gen Sergei Shoigu arrived in Crima on Friday to take part in a key phase of the Caucasus'2016 headquarters exercise.

The authorities in Kiev refuse to recognize Crimea's status as a constituent region of the Russian Federation in spite of the landslide voting in favor of the region's reunification with Russia in a referendum, which the Crimeans held on March 16, 2014.

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Crimea and Sevastopol

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