The decision on human rights situation in the Republic of Crimea and the Federal City of Sevastopol, adopted on May 11 by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, contradicts the Statute of this organization, as well as the basic principles of international relations enshrined in the UN Charter.

The Committee of Ministers actually interferes in the internal affairs of the Russian Federation, prejudices its territorial integrity and also ignores the principle of self-determination of peoples which is provided for in the UN Charter.

The document ignores violations of fundamental human rights of the Crimeans by Ukraine and Western countries. It does not reflect the egregious fact of collective punishment of Crimeans for free expression of their will in 2014, when the majority of Crimeans voted in favor of reunification with Russia during a referendum. Western countries and Ukraine have introduced collective sanctions against the inhabitants of the peninsula, and are making all the attempts to hinder the socio-economic development of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol. The Kiev authorities went even further and launched a water blockade of Crimea.

This decision is entirely based on propaganda statements from Kiev and ignores the real state of affairs and, first of all, the fact that human rights in Russian Crimea are fully ensured in the Republic of Crimea, which is obvious to any unbiased observer. There are three state languages - Russian, Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian, school education develops in all three of them, and the learning of national minorities languages is being supported. Large-scale projects to promote national cultures and a program for the rehabilitation of peoples who suffered from repressions during the Soviet period are implemented.

We would like to emphasize that our country has repeatedly sent invitations to the bodies of the Council of Europe to visit Crimea with monitoring missions within their mandates in relation to the Russian Federation. All these invitations have been ignored. The decision taken today, which contains references to Ukrainian legislation, makes travel of the Council of Europe delegations to Crimea practically impossible.

By adopting this decision, the majority in the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe trampled on the fundamental values of this organization for the sake of political reasons. This document, against which we voted, undermines the authority of the Council of Europe. We regard it as illegitimate and null and void from the legal point of view. The German chairmanship in the Committee of Ministers bears special responsibility for what happened.