SIMFEROPOL (Sputnik) – On Monday, a delegation of Serbian politicians from the Patriotic Bloc that comprises the Democratic Party and members of the Dveri Movement arrived on a visit to the Black Sea peninsula, which seceded from Ukraine and joined Russia following a March 2014 referendum. Kiev does not recognize the vote as legitimate.
"A year ago, we said: ‘Kosovo is Serbia and Crimea is Russia…’ Crimea, on the basis of a referendum returned to its Mother Russia. We don’t understand why we have been handed a note of protest," Sanda Raskovic Ivic told reporters.
Ukrainian Ambassador to Serbia Oleksandr Aleksandrovych called on the Serbian parliamentarians in the note to esteem the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and "respect the assistance by the Ukrainian people, which it renders to Serbia’s efforts on the non-recognition of the independence of Kosovo," the note said, as read aloud by one of the Serbian delegation members.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February 2008, and has been recognized by 108 UN member states, while Serbia considers Kosovo to be part of its territory.
