“Arria formula” meetings are convened by a member of the UN Security Council. This time the event was initiated by Estonia, which is a non-permanent member of the UNSC (2020-2021). The event was co-sponsored by 23 countries: Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Costa Rica, Czechia, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Turkey, the UK, the US, and Ukraine.

For the first time, the “Arria formula” meeting on Crimean issue was held at a high level. 7 states were represented at the level of foreign ministers, another 5 – at the level of deputy ministers. This year’s significant widening of the geography of participants and cosponsors means that the attention of the UN member-states to the temporary occupation of Crimea is growing.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba has pointed to a number of Russia’s ongoing violations of international humanitarian law and large-scale human rights violations on the peninsula, including changing the demographic structure of the population of Crimea by the occupying authorities.

Participants of the meeting unanimously condemned Russia’s occupation of Crimea, its gross violations of international law, and stressed that Russia's attempts to legitimize the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula will not succeed.

The participants also discussed Russia’s ongoing large-scale militarization of Crimea and the Black and Azov Seas in general, as well as further human rights violations, and the deteriorating economic and environmental situation on the Crimean peninsula.

Denmark has made a statement on behalf of a group of Nordic countries – Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. It was noted that the Nordic countries reiterate their firm support for Ukraine. They are convinced that the respect for international law and a rules-based world order are fundamental for common security and multilateral cooperation. The Nordic countries have called on members of the international community to remain steadfast in their non-recognition policy in line with UN General Assembly Resolution 68/262.

Minister Dmytro Kuleba reminded of the creation of the Crimean Platform and invited all UN member states to join it: “It is a flexible international mechanism to provide long-term vision of de-occupation of Crimea, consolidation of international efforts and synergy of intergovernmental, parliamentary and expert levels”.