The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has expressed a strong protest against the unlawful ruling of the North-Caucasian district military court in Russia that have sentenced Ukrainian citizens Never Mautov for 17 years in prison, and Remzi Memetov and Zevri Abseitov for nine years in prison based on trumped-up charges of terrorism involvement.

"This decision is just another evidence that Russian anti-terrorism legislation can be used at large by the Russian occupation administration for covering up their political repressions against members of the Crimean Tatar people," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on December 24.

The Foreign Ministry recalled that "this unacceptable practice" was condemned by the international community in the December 22 resolution of the UN General Assembly entitled "Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine."

"Ukraine will not silently observe this practice of the Russian Federation, and in the future, it will use all the possible political and diplomatic levers to free its citizens. We call on the international community to increase pressure on the aggressor state in order to stop Russia from violating human rights in the temporarily occupied Crimea and release the illegally detained citizens of Ukraine," the statement reads.

Kyiv says that the Russian Federation must fully comply with the "Crimean resolutions" of the UN General Assembly passed on December 19, 2016, December 19, 2017 and December 22, 2018, as well as the ruling of the UN International Court of Justice on measures following a lawsuit by Ukraine against the Russian Federation regarding the application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.