Russia seeks to deploy nuclear weapons in Crimea – Poroshenko

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko claims Russia's leaders are seeking to deploy nuclear weapons in the temporarily occupied Crimea.

"Russia heavily militarizes Crimea. It seeks to deploy nuclear weapons there, too. This is Russia's understanding of security in the region," the president said at the 'Ukraine's Battle for Freedom Continues' forum in Washington on Thursday.

He said that Ukraine in 1994 abandoned the third largest nuclear weapons arsenal and received guarantees of the signatories to the Budapest Memorandum in response.

"We received security assurances under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum about sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of my country. Very clear. Give up nuclear weapons and receive security guarantee. Sounds good, but what has it turned to be in reality? Russia simply defied its assurances to Ukraine and committed a direct armed aggression against my state," he said.

The president also criticized human rights violations in the Russian-occupied Crimea.

"The occupation regime targets everyone who shows dissent, especially Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars who support sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine. The Russian occupation regime has launched over 130 criminal cases against Crimean Tatars, including a case to ban their main organization – the Mejlis," he said.