MOSCOW. – The bearers of the sovereignty of Crimea are its people, whose will was definitely expressed by the referendum on Sunday, March 16, the Russian Federation (RF) MFA statement read.

“And this [will] is the exercising of the right to participate in the political life, which [i.e., the right] the self-declared authorities in Kiev were attempting to deprive the residents of Crimea, and about which UN Assistant Secretary-General Šimonović speaks,” the statement also noted. 

As per the RF MFA, the remark by Ivan Šimonović, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, and on human rights in Ukraine, is biased.

“UN Assistant Secretary-General Ivan Šimonović’s biased assessment on the [state of] human rights in that country causes bewilderment,” the Russian MFA Information and Press Department noted.    

Ivan Šimonović had stated that, “systematic human rights violations are taking place” in Ukraine.