Dzheppar outlines Ukraine’s expectations from Eastern Partnership summit

First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Emine Dzheppar has informed Director of the Estonian Center of Eastern Partnership (ECEAP) Gert Antsu about another wave of detentions in the Russian-occupied Crimea.

According to Ukrinform, she posted this on Twitter.

"I had a pleasure to meet Gert Antsu, a friend of Ukraine and director of Estonian Center of Eastern Partnership (ECEAP). I informed my Estonian colleague about current situation in temporarily occupied Crimea, particularly in context of another wave of house searches and detentions on Sep 3-4, and further activities of Crimea Platform," Dzheppar wrote.

The parties discussed the state of relations between Ukraine and the European Union, as well as the priorities of cooperation in the run-up to the 6th Eastern Partnership Summit this year.

According to the press service of the Foreign Ministry, Dzheppar presented Ukraine's expectations from the EaP summit and the goals that our state sets for itself for further mutually beneficial partnership cooperation within the framework of this initiative.

“For Ukraine, in particular, among such priorities is ensuring the gradual integration of associated partners into the EU internal market, as well as increasing attention within the initiative to security issues in the region,” the first deputy minister said.

The interlocutors paid special attention to the Associated Trio initiative, which was launched by Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova.

In the context of preparations for the 23rd Ukraine-EU summit, which will be held in Kyiv on October 12, the parties expressed hope for its successful holding and the signing of important bilateral documents, in particular the Common Aviation Area Agreement between Ukraine and the EU.

As Ukrinform reported, on September 3-4, Russian occupation authorities in Crimea conducted mass raids in Crimean Tatar households and made a number of detentions. In particular, Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Nariman Celal and four other Crimean Tatars – Aziz Akhtemov, Asan Akhmetov, Shevket Useinov, and Eldar Odamanov – were detained. Their whereabouts were unknown to their relatives, lawyers, or human rights defenders. On September 4, relatives of the missing and lawyers gathered near the FSB building in Simferopol. More than 40 people were detained trying to find out the whereabouts of five Crimean Tatars.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expressed a strong protest in connection with the repeated illegal searches and detentions in the temporarily occupied Crimea.

The Ukrainian government called the Kremlin’s move a reaction to the launch of the Crimea Platform initiative, and demanded that all detainees be immediately released.

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