So far, 28 countries and international organizations have confirmed their participation at the inaugural summit of the Crimean Platform, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced during the briefing on July 28.
The summit is an international diplomatic initiative aimed at bringing global attention back to the issue of Russian-occupied Crimea. It is scheduled to take place on Aug. 23 in Kyiv.
“This will be an unprecedented event in the history of Ukraine. Never before have so many states met in Ukraine for such event,” Kuleba said. “This shows that we have already managed to form the core of the international coalition for the liberation of Crimea.”
Kuleba didn’t specify which countries exactly will be represented at the summit but said that “Ukraine expects that all leading partners of Ukraine in Europe and North America will participate in the Crimean Platform summit.”
U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris won’t attend the inaugural summit of the Crimean Platform. Instead, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg will represent the country at the summit.
According to Kuleba, Russia is trying to convince other countries not to participate at the Crimean Platform.
Kuleba also said that the Crimean Declaration – a document summing up core points of the summit – is almost ready.
Since Ukraine hopes to make the Crimean Platform a regular occurrence, Ukraine is now is developing a long-term concept for the summit in five areas: non-recognition policy of Russia’s occupation of Crimea, sanctions, security in the Azov-Black Sea region, protection of human rights and international humanitarian law, and environmental and economic consequences of Russia’s occupation of Crimea.
