Ukraine bans European politicians' entry as they visit occupied Crimea

The SBU banned the entry into Ukraine for four citizens of Serbia and one citizen of the Czech Republic after checking information on the illegal stay of the European politicians in the annexed Crimea, the SBU press secretary Olena Hitlyanska wrote on Facebook.

"The SBU has verified reports about the visit of politicians from the European Union and other countries to Russian-occupied Crimea at the occupying authorities' invitation to "celebrate" the third anniversary of the Crimean pseudo-referendum. It turned out that four citizens of Serbia and one Czech citizen are illegally staying in the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea", - she wrote.

The SBU decided to declare them persona non grata for five years. Information regarding citizens of Ukraine in this delegation has not yet been confirmed, Hitlyanska said.

As previously reported, Russian media reported that a delegation of European and Ukrainian politicians arrived in the occupied Crimea on a three-day visit. The delegation allegedly consisted of members of the National Assembly of Serbia from the Serbian Radical Party Milovat Boich and Dubravko Boich, member of the Presidium of the Serbian Radical Party Alexander Sheshel, Serbian writer and political scientist, professor of the Banja Luka University Srja Trofkovic, and member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic Yaroslav Golik. In addition, according to Russian media, deputies of the European Parliament, parliaments of Britain, Germany, the Baltic countries, as well as politicians from Ukraine, Brazil and Kyrgyzstan attended the Crimea.

Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov asked the SBU to analyze information about the stay in the Crimea of politicians from European and other countries to impose sanctions on them.