U.K. Ambassador To Ukraine Concerned About Mejlis Ban
British Ambassador to Ukraine Judith Gough has expressed concerns over a ruling by Russia's Supreme Court that upheld a ban on the Mejlis, the self-governing body of Crimean Tatars in Ukraine's occupied territory of Crimea.
Gough wrote on Twitter on September 30: "Concerned at Russian Supreme Court decision banning Crimean Tatar Mejlis in illegally annexed Crimea. Russia must respect human rights."
Russia's Supreme Court ruling on September 29 upheld the decision of a Moscow-backed Crimean court to ban the Mejlis.
Mejlis chairman Refat Chubarov told journalists in Kyiv on September 30 that the Russian court's ruling will be appealed at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry condemned the Russian Supreme Court's ruling, urging Russia to immediately lift its ban and end what it called "the oppression of the Crimean Tatar community in Crimea."
On April 26, more than two years after Russia seized and illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, Crimea's pro-Russian Supreme Court branded the Mejlis as an extremist organization and officially banned it.
The Mejlis had been legalized by the Ukrainian government in 1999.
With reporting by UNIAN
Dutch Government Rebukes Russian Ambassador Over MH17 Remarks
The Dutch Foreign Ministry has summoned Russia's ambassador in The Hague for a diplomatic rebuke after Moscow made remarks critical of the criminal investigation into the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.
Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said on September 30 that Russian reactions to the investigation's findings "cast doubt on the integrity, professionalism, and independence" of the investigators.”
"The Russian ambassador has been made to understand that such unfounded criticism is unacceptable," the ministry said in a statement.
Earlier this week, a team of international investigators presented findings showing that the missile launcher used to shoot down MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 came from Russia and was returned there afterward -- despite Russian denials of involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a September 28 news conference in Moscow that the Joint Investigation Team's findings showed that the probe was “biased and politically motivated."