Parliament soon to pass laws ensuring Crimean Tatars' right to self-determination - justice minister

Kyiv, March 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine will adopt a package of laws providing the Crimean Tatars with legal instruments for self-determination, Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko has said.

"At our initiative at the next meetings the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine will adopt a package of laws that will allow the Crimean Tatars to decide themselves on their legal status and, most importantly, on the historical will of the people who live in Crimea and who have all legal and historical rights to this land," he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.

At the same time, he added: "Ukraine will not leave any citizen unprotected. We will take all possible measures to protect our citizens. I hope that the Crimean Tatars will also express their strong position as to whether they wish to be part of the Russian Federation within the annexation by military aggressor."

He noted that the Verkhovna Rada had adopted at first reading a law ensuring the rights of indigenous peoples.

"This law is now being finalized, including with the involvement of experts from the Justice Ministry. It will be presented at the next meeting in parliament. Actually, we will provide all of the necessary legal instruments to the Crimean Tatars so that they self-determine and decide their fate," Petrenko said.