Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the political situation in the Crimea.

Seven years on from Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea, we continue to make clear to Moscow that Crimea is, and will remain part of Ukraine. Russia must withdraw forces and end illegitimate control.

Under UK leadership, G7 Foreign Ministers issued statements on 18 March, to mark the seventh anniversary of Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea, and on 12 April, calling for de-escalation following Russia's build-up of military forces in Crimea and near the Ukrainian border. The Foreign Secretary has raised these matters directly with his counterparts, including on 17 June with Russian FM Lavrov.

We remain deeply concerned about ongoing human rights abuses experienced by minorities in Crimea, including Crimean Tatars. We have contributed nearly £700,000 this financial year to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission, which monitors and documents human rights abuses in Crimea. We will continue to call for international monitoring missions to have access to Crimea, currently denied by Russia.

We welcome and support Ukraine's proposal to establish an International Crimean Platform. We are exploring what role we can play.