The first Summit of the Crimea Platform is taking place today in Kyiv, a diplomatic initiative of Ukraine which is to become an international mechanism for coordinating efforts to put the subject of Crimea back on the agenda with a view to rebuilding Ukraine’s control over the peninsula.
The Crimea Platform is intended to operate on a permanent basis.
Kyiv’s initiative has been branded in Moscow as a “Russophobic deception” and a threat to Russia's territorial integrity.
During a briefing ahead of the event, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that 44 states and international bodies had announced their participation, including 14 heads of state and government, as well as the President of the European Council and the Vice President of the European Commission.
Moldova’s President Maia Sandu is also among the participants. Georgia, which, too, has lost control of part of the country following an armed intervention by the Russian Federation, is represented by its prime minister, Irakli Garibashvili.
Speakers of parliaments, foreign ministers, NATO’s deputy secretary general and the US president’s special envoy are also attending the Kyiv summit. “Regardless of their level of participation, these nations, whose number amounts to 45 with Ukraine included, become founders of the Crimea Platform,” said Minister Kuleba.
The Moldovan President’s Office said in a press release that Maia Sandu will have several bilateral meetings on the margins of the event, in particular with the presidents of Estonia and Latvia, the prime minister of Sweden, the foreign minister of Austria, and the executive vice president of the European Commission.
