Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko stated Ukraine had raised the issue before international partners on strengthening sanctions against the Russian Federation and the occupation authorities of Crimea because of the deterioration of situation with the rights of the Crimean Tatar people in the peninsula.

"Moscow has consistently pursued the Crimean Tatar people. It is an unchanging constant in Russia's politics. And now the "worthy" grandchildren of Stalin are reviving the policy of genocide against Crimean Tatars. Now it is hard to believe such things could happen in the midst of geographical Europe. The occupants put people into custody because they speak their native Crimean Tatar language, believe in god in another way and want to live freely in their homeland," Poroshenko said at the evening-requiem in memory of victims of genocide of Crimean Tatars at the National Opera in Kyiv.

He stressed the courts of occupant authorities in Crimea banned the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, put dozens of Crimean Tatars into custody, thousands of people were forced to leave their homeland. Representatives of the Crimean Tatar people in Crimea are persecuted, their houses are searched, and peaceful rallies are prohibited in the peninsula.