Sweden’s Prime Minister, Minister of Defense to attend Crimea Platform summit

Prime Minister of Sweden Stefan Löfven and Defense Minister of Sweden Peter Hultqvist will visit Kyiv on August 23 to take part in the inaugural summit of the Crimea Platform initiative.

A corresponding announcement was published on the website of the Government of Sweden.

"The purpose of the Crimea Platform is to raise awareness of the international community about Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and to improve coordination in response to the illegal annexation," reads the statement.

It is also noted that the participation of the Swedish Prime Minister in the Crimea Platform "strengthens Sweden's principled support for the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence of Ukraine."

Earlier, Speaker of the Senate of Canada George Furey confirmed participation in the Crimea Platform summit in Kyiv on August 23.

The Crimea Platform is a new consultative and coordination format initiated by Ukraine to step up the efficiency of international response to the occupation of Crimea, respond to growing security challenges, increase international pressure on Russia, prevent further human rights violations, protect victims of the occupation regime, and achieve the main goal: to de-occupy Crimea and restore Ukraine’s sovereignty over the peninsula.

The Platform is to operate at several levels: heads of state and government, foreign ministers, inter-parliamentary cooperation, expert network.

The activity of the Crimea Platform will be officially launched at the inaugural summit in Kyiv on August 23, 2021.

The Crimea Platform is expected to be presented at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

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