KIEV, July 28. /TASS/: The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has voiced protest in connection with the trip to Crimea of a Russian delegation led by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, the ministry’s press service said on Sunday.
"The trip comes in defiance of repeated warnings from Ukraine," it said. Earlier on Sunday, the prime minister arrived in Sevastopol to attend festivities marking Russia’s Navy Day.
The Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, a city with a special status on the Crimean Peninsula, where most residents are Russians, refused to recognize the legitimacy of the authorities in Kiev who seized power amid riots that sparked a coup in Ukraine in February 2014.
Crimea and Sevastopol adopted declarations of independence on March 11, 2014. They held a referendum on March 16, 2014, in which 96.77% of Crimeans and 95.6% of Sevastopol voters chose to secede from Ukraine and join Russia. The Russian president signed the reunification deals on March 18, 2014. Despite the convincing results of the referendum, Kiev refused to recognize Crimea as part of Russia.
