"We don't agree that Crimea has gone. This will be the year we really begin pressing forward on a process to return Crimea," Jaresko said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, Reuters wrote.
Russia seized the Black Sea peninsula in March 2014 in a military operation denounced by the West, which imposed retaliatory sanctions to punish Moscow that remain in place.
More recently Ukraine cut power supplies to the region and its president, Petro Poroshenko, said power would be restored if Crimea were recognized as part of Ukraine.
However, Russia has given no sign that it would ever consider returning Crimea, which has a majority ethnic Russian population and holds a special place in Russian history and culture. Last month Moscow issued a new banknote dedicated to Crimea.
Jaresko said Ukraine aimed to create a forum along the lines of the so-called Geneva format, a body that included Russia, Ukraine, the European Union and the United States and operated briefly in 2014. Russia has ruled out reviving the forum.
"We are looking to establish something bigger than the Geneva format to begin dialogue on how to return Crimea to Ukraine," Jaresko said.
Some legal experts believe Ukraine can successfully use Crimea's annexation as a lever against Russia if Moscow carries out its threat to take Kyiv to a British court over non-payment of a $3 billion debt
Jaresko declined to comment on that possibility.
www.unian.info
21/1/16
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The Ukrainian authorities intend to begin negotiations for the return of the Crimean Peninsula, Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalia Yaresko stated in Davos...
ReplyDeleteAccording to her, in 2016, Kiev intends to launch "a fresh diplomatic initiative for the return of the Crimean Peninsula."
The negotiations on the issue are to be based on the model of the Geneva format, being something bigger at the same time.
The Ukrainian authorities plan to establish a diplomatic forum with the participation of Russia, Ukraine, the European Union (EU) and the United States. "We hope to organize something bigger than the Geneva format, to start a dialogue about the return of the Crimea," explained Yaresko......http://www.pravdareport.com/news/world/21-01-2016/133119-ukraine_return_crimea-0/#sthash.BfRtuWTa.dpuf