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Ukraine plans to call UNGA debates on Crimea and Donbass in February

The UN General Assembly earlier passed two major resolutions - on the protection of human rights in temporarily occupied Crimea and on the problem of the militarization of the Crimean Peninsula and parts of the Black and Azov Seas

KIEV, February 1. /TASS/. Ukraine plans to initiate United Nations General Assembly debates in February to discuss the situation in what it calls "temporarily occupied territories" in Donbass and Crimea, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said on Tuesday.

"In February, we plan to call UN General Assembly debates to discuss the situation in the temporarily occupied territories with a wide range of states," he said.

In this context, he recalled the previous UNGA resolutions on Crimea. "The General Assembly has passed two major resolutions - on the protection of human rights in temporarily occupied Crimea and on the problem of the militarization of the Crimean Peninsula and parts of the Black and Azov Seas," Nikolenko said.

The Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, a city with a special status on the Crimean Peninsula, where most residents are Russian, refused to recognize the legitimacy of authorities brought to power amid riots during a coup in Ukraine in February 2014.

Crimea and Sevastopol adopted declarations of independence on March 11, 2014. They held a referendum on March 16, 2014, in which 96.7% of Crimeans and 95.6% of Sevastopol voters chose to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the reunification treaties on March 18, 2014. The documents were ratified by Russia’s Federal Assembly, or bicameral parliament, on March 21.

Despite the overwhelming results of the referendum, Ukraine still refuses to recognize Crimea as part of Russia.

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