The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine strongly protests against yet another wave of illegal searches and detentions of residents of the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.

According to the available information, following searches in their houses, Aider Kadyrov (village of Rozlyvy, Nizhnyohirskyy district), Ayder Abliakimov (village of Soniachna Dolyna, Sudak district), Rydvan Umerov (town of Sudak), and Enver Topchi (urban village of Ichki (Sovietskyy), Ichki district) were illegally detained. During the previous wave of arrests in July, the occupation administration detained seven Crimean Tatars.

Russia has systematically used a repressive apparatus to persecute journalists, including citizen journalists, and activists, and continues to pursue a policy of persecuting all those who disagree with the occupation. Representatives of the Crimean Tatar people suffer the most from this repressive policy.

We expect the Russian Federation to fully implement UN GA Resolutions 68/262 of 27 March 2014 "Territorial Integrity of Ukraine" and "Situation of Human Rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol (Ukraine)" 2016-2019 as well as the Order of the International Court of Justice on the application of provisional measures in the framework of the case initiated by Ukraine against the Russian Federation concerning the application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

We demand that Russia immediately release the four persons detained today, as well as all Ukrainian citizens illegally detained by Russia. Presently, Russia illegally detains about 100 Ukrainian citizens behind bars.

We call on the international community to continue the active protection of the rights and freedoms of inhabitants of the occupied Crimea and to increase pressure on Russia to end its gross human rights violations on the temporarily occupied peninsula.