On March 06, 2019, Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Cyprus Mr. Borys Humenyuk met with Mr. Michalis Ioannou, newly appointed Director of the Department of Eastern Europe, Western Balkans and Central Asia.

During the meeting there was a comprehensive discussion of bilateral relations between Ukraine and the Republic of Cyprus.

The interlocutor was informed about the international consequences of Russia's five-year aggression against Ukraine, the transformation of the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol into a military base, expanding its aggression to the seas, violations of the rights of believers, religious communities and clerics in the occupied territories, that are manifested in systematic persecution, mistreatment, arrests, seizure of temples.

Particular attention was paid during the meeting to the facts of the intervening of merchant ships owned by Cypriot companies to the closed seaports of Ukraine on the temporarily occupied Crimean Peninsula.

The abovementioned actions are a gross violation of international maritime law and Ukrainian legislation.