Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Prime Minister's oral contribution of 16 July 2018, Official Report, column 24, what support the Government is offering to the Government of Ukraine in relation to the situation in the Crimea.

The UK is absolutely clear in its rejection of Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea. The British Government regularly highlights, publically and multilaterally, Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and human rights abuses towards those who oppose the illegal annexation. In public statements, including the UK statement at the recent UN Human Rights Council, our bilateral contacts with Russia and in multilateral fora - we have called on Russia to immediately release Ukrainian prisoners detained for politically motivated reasons. The EU has taken practical measures to reinforce its policy of non-recognition of the illegal annexation of Crimea, including on 18 June the EU renewed trade sanctions in response to Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol for a further 12 months; and on 5 July economic sanctions were renewed for a further 6 months.