Ukraine at UN: Russian occupiers pursue repression in Crimea under guise of anti-terror efforts

In the occupied territories of Ukraine, Russia is repressing activists, human rights defenders, and journalists under the pretext of fighting terrorism.

That’s according to Deputy Ambassador of Ukraine to the UN, Yuriy Vitrenko, who spoke at an open debate in the UN Security Council on security in the context of terrorism and climate change on Thursday, December 9, Ukrinform's own correspondent in New York reports.

He noted that Ukraine was concerned over Russia’s attempts to exploit the pretext of fighting terrorism to continue repression in the occupied areas.

"We are appalled by the Russian occupying administration practices of oppressing Crimean Tatar activists, human rights defenders and journalists in the temporarily occupied Crimea under the guise of counter-terrorism measures, or terrorizing civilians in temporarily occupied parts of Donbas," Vitrenko said.

Combatting individual terrorists and terrorist groups will not be sufficient "if the problem of state-sponsored terrorism is not addressed in a robust and comprehensive way," the diplomat said, referring to Russia.

The deputy mission chief also noted that the militarization of Crimea, which Russia is trying to transform into its naval military base, as well as aggression in eastern Ukraine have an adverse impact on the environment.

As example, Vitrenko pointed out the fact that power supply had been cut off to many coal mines in the occupied areas of eastern Ukraine.

“Shut-down of mines’ ventilation and pumping systems often leads to volley emissions of mine gases and flooding of mines and nearby areas,” the statement said.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the UN General Assembly adopted an updated resolution "Problem of the militarization of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, as well as parts of the Black and the Sea of Azov."

The UNGA has been passing the resolution annually since 2018.

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