Crimea Again at the Center of Ukraine Dispute with Russia
Tensions between Ukraine and Russia over Crimea have sparked again on Sunday, after a group of Ukrainian far-right radicals blocked the two main roads connecting Ukraine to the Crimean Peninsula.
The radicals, members of the Right Sector movement and ethnic nationalist Tartars, built a blockade out of cement bricks and are threatening to bar any goods or food supplies from entering Crimea.
“Our protest will be long. Our position is that the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) should discuss bills on settlement of relations between mainland Ukraine and occupied Crimea,” said Refat Chubarov, a Crimean Tartar member of the government bloc in the Ukrainian Parliament.
The action comes as the Kyiv has doubled efforts against the Russian government.
Earlier on Friday, Ukrainian prosecutors announced they were drafting charges against a Crimean winery, which used to belong to the Ukrainian state, for serving Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Both visited Crimea last week to commemorate the soldiers who died during the 1853 – 1856 Crimean War in which Italian soldiers also died. During their visit, they toured a prestigious winery in which they tried a 240-year-old wine.
After the visit, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree banning and sanctioning dozens of journalists, politicians and celebrities.
The list of nearly 400 journalists included some of prestigious Western media outlets, such as The Guardian, El Pais, Die Zeit and BBC.
Another 500 celebrities were banned, including United States’ filmmaker Oliver Stone, French actor Gerard Depardieu, U.S. actor Steven Seagal and dozens of Russian performers.
The lists are made based on the public figures’ stance regarding the annexation of Crimea to Russia, after a Referendum held in the peninsula in April last year.