The Russian Federation intends to deploy nuclear offensive weapons on the territory of the occupied Crimea, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Andriy Parubiy said at a meeting of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Tbilisi on Monday.

"Now Russia is carrying out an intensified militarization of the illegally occupied peninsula, placing new types of weapons and military equipment there, including plans to deploy, and according to some sources, have already placed nuclear deterrent weapons," he said.

He also noted that the Russian occupation regime persecutes representatives of the Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian ethnic communities on the peninsula. In addition, the speaker said that the Russian Federation is stepping up military operations on the collision line in Donbas.

At the same time, Parubiy said that it is important for Ukraine to settle the conflict in a peaceful way and to this end it is necessary to maintain political pressure on the Russian Federation and sanctions against it. "And if the escalation of Russia's aggressive actions continues, I am convinced that we must jointly come to strengthening sanctions against Russia," he said.

According to Parubiy, the refusal of the Russian Federation to observe the ceasefire regime, to quit the fire in Donbas, undermine the efforts of Ukraine and the international community aimed at de-escalation and stabilization of the situation in the region.