Ethnic Germans in Crimea Urge Berlin to Revise Visa Requirements

SIMFEROPOL (Sputnik) - Yuri Gempel, the head of the German diaspora in Crimea, urged Berlin on Monday to revise its visa policy, which requires that Crimeans apply for visas at its embassy in Kiev.

"We call on the German Foreign Ministry to reconsider its position and let Crimean Germans, as rightful citizens of Russia, to apply for visas at the German embassy in Moscow," he told Sputnik.

Gempel said ethnic Germans in Crimea have had problems getting German visitor visas after the Black Sea region left Ukraine for Russia in 2014.

He argued that Germany was virtually forcing Crimean Germans to call themselves Ukrainian nationals in exchange for an opportunity to see their relatives, which he described as a violation of the right to freedom of movement.

Crimea rejoined Russia after a vast majority of its population voted in March 2014 to secede from Ukraine following a coup in Kiev. Ukraine and the European Union did not recognize the result of the vote, accusing Russia of annexing the peninsula.