Ukraine condemns the conduct by the Russian Federation of an all-Russian census on the territory of the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.

Such actions of the Russian Federation are directed against the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and constitute continued efforts to legitimize the attempted annexation the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, as well as to extend Russian legislation to this territory.

Conducting a census in the temporarily occupied territory is an unfriendly act towards our state, and we reserve the right to impose retorsions.

We emphasize that in accordance with the provisions of UN GA resolution 68/262, the so-called "referendum" in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, held by the Russian occupation administration on 16 March, 2014, is null and void and cannot be the basis for any change of status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea or of the city of Sevastopol, in particular, serve as a basis for reflecting the results of the census in the occupied Crimea as part of the all-Russian census.

It is important that the participants of the International Crimean Platform reaffirm in the Joint Declaration that they do not recognize any change of the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol as an integral part of Ukraine and will strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to challenge and change an international order based on the rule of law.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine stresses that the assessment of the situation in Crimea can be based only on impartial and objective monitoring by international organizations, which have a respective mandate, are carried out in accordance with Ukrainian legislation and international law, as well as by human rights NGOs.

We call on the international community to condemn Russia's conduct of an all-Russian census in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine, not to recognize or use its results.