Ukraine condemns conducting flight from Crimea to Yerevan

/AzerNews/

By Mushvig Mehdyev

Ukrainian government strongly condemned conducting flight from the separatist Crimea to Armenia's capital city Yerevan.

Russian airline "Grozniy Avia" has begun to launch regular flights from Simferopol to Yerevan since November 16. This has sparked a great uproar in Ukraine. Kiev called the flights Russia's new plans for Crimea.

"We hope that the direct flights from Crimea's territory will not be welcomed," said Director of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's Information Department Evgeniy Perebeynis.

Perebeynis called on all partner countries including Armenia to recognize the flights from Crimea as illegal. "We hope that our partners will stay committed to the fact that Crimea is Ukraine's territory and won't welcome direct flights from the peninsula performed by its illegitimate government."

"Ukrainian government closed all airports including Simferopol airport in Crimea, which is an integral part of Ukraine, for air transport. Subsequently, any flight performed from the airports in Crimea, particularly from Simferopol airport is illegal," Perebeynis said commenting on the launch of Simferopol-Yerevan flight.

Russia annexed Crimea following a referendum in the peninsula that overwhelmingly supported seceding from Ukraine in March this year. Russian President Vladimir Putin inked a draft bill on the peninsula's annexation, ignoring the withdrawal calls from western forces. The northern giant, now, effectively administers Crimea as two federal subjects - the Republic of Crimea and the Federal City of Sevastopol.

The first international flight left Simferopol airport for Turkey's Istanbul city in July 2014, marking the start of the flights from Crimea since its annexation by Russia.

Crimean authorities named it a significant event and promised to perform more flights in the future.

Crimea's "Transport Minister" Anatoliy Churkin said the flights from Simferopol to Yerevan was second international flight route after annexation of Crimea to Russia.

The Armenian authorities has officially recognized the parliamentary elections in the peninsula in March, 2014, under reported pressure by Russia. Now, it would be in vain to expect Yerevan to refuse the flights from Simferopol airport amid Armenia's universal dependence on its northern neighbor. Otherwise, it will see the raised eyebrows of Russia, which can cause a serious headache on the verge of its official membership in the Eurasian Economic Union.