The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has strongly protested Russia's continuous violation of the rights of Ukrainian citizens Mykola Karpiuk (detained on March 21, 2014) and Stanislav Klikh (detained on August 11, 2014), who are being held in Russian captivity.

"Despite the assurances [we] received from the Russian Foreign Ministry in November, 2014, that investigative agencies will allow Ukrainian consular authorities [access] to those arrested, the relative Russian authorities have prevented meetings with detained Ukrainian citizens," reads a statement issued by the ministry on Friday.

According to the ministry, Russia has ignored over 20 addresses on this issue. On May 14, 2015, the Russian Investigative Committee once again refused to grant consular authorities access to Karpiuk and Klikh.

"The above-mentioned [facts] are proof of violations by Russia of the Ukrainian citizens' rights and the right of the Ukrainian consular authorities to access to detained citizens of their state foreseen by Article 13 of the Consular Convention between Ukraine and Russia dated January 15, 1993," reads the statement.

The ministry said that such actions by Russia were especially worrying taken into account the statements made by other Ukrainian citizens detained in Russia that physical and psychological pressure had been inflicted on them. The ministry has demanded that Karpiuk's and Klikh's cases be considered in an objective and unbiased way and in accordance with all the legal obligations that Russia had taken upon itself.

As reported, leader of the Ukrainian National Assembly Mykola Karpiuk was arrested in March 2014 in relation to military action in Chechnya in 1994-2001. His whereabouts remain unknown.

On March 22, 2014, the Ukrainian National Assembly party changed its name to Right Sector and chose Dmytro Yarosh as its leader.