OREANDA-NEWS. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights requested additional information on the water supply to Crimea and blocking of watercourse through the North Crimean Canal by Ukraine in response to a letter from the Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on International Affairs, Natalia Poklonskaya.

Poklonskaya sent an appeal to the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, at the end of May. The Russian parliamentarian called to condemn the actions of the Ukrainian authorities, which cut off the supply of fresh water to Crimea, and to take measures to resume water supply through the North Crimean Canal. Three months later, Poklonskaya received an official response signed by Director of Field Operations and Technical Cooperation for the UN Human Rights Office, Georgette Gagnon. According to Poklonskaya, in the letter, the organization offered to cooperate in providing additional information on the situation with water supply on the peninsula and access of its residents to water.

Until 2014, when Crimea became part of Russia, water from the Dnieper River came to the peninsula through the North Crimean Canal, providing 85 % of the agricultural needs of the territory. In 2017, the authorities of the Kherson Region of Ukraine built a dam that completely cut off the supply of water to Crimea.