Parliament names February 20, 2014 as official date of Crimea, Sevastopol occupation by Russia

As Interfax-Ukraine reported, a total of 239 parliamentarians voted for the respective law at the sitting on Tuesday. According to the adopted law, Article 1 of the law of Ukraine "On ensuring rights and freedoms of citizens in a legal regime on the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine" is amended to establish the beginning of the temporary occupation of the peninsula on February 20, 2014. In addition, the adopted law supports the initiative of the Ukrainian government, according to which Article 12 of the law of Ukraine "On the creation of a free trade zone 'Crimea' and on the peculiarities of conducting economic activity on the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine" no longer has the provision stating that start of Crimea's occupation is marked by UN general Assembly's resolution No. 68/262 coming into force (March 27, 2014). When speaking in the parliament, Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin reminded that de facto the day of Crimea's Supreme Council's takeover took place on February 26, and "Russian armed forces violated the order of [border] crossing on February 20, which was confirmed by corresponding legal norms." He explained that different dates marking the beginning of Crimea's occupation created uncertainty and were politically incorrect.