Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Jordan on Monday called on Russia and Ukraine to start "serious and effective dialogue" to resolve their crisis over Crimea, a Russian-speaking autonomous region in Ukraine.

The statement came as Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al-Hussein, the permanent representative of Jordan to the UN, was speaking at an open meeting of the UN Security Council, which took place here Monday afternoon at the request of Ukraine to discuss the ongoing crisis in the former Soviet republic.

"Russia and Ukraine must start serious and effective dialogue to resolve the crisis between them, a dialogue that leads to the return of Crimean region to Ukraine's control as soon as possible, " he said.

"Jordan expresses its deep concern regarding the developments in Ukraine, particularly in the Crimean region," he said. "We call on all parties to exercise calm and self-restrain and not to escalate by taking military measures or by threatening the use of force."

"Jordan reaffirms the needs to respect the sovereignty of Ukraine, its territorial integrity, and its political independence, and the prohibition of the use of force in its territory, or parts of its territory, or the occupation thereof including the Crimean region," he said.

"Jordan calls on all relevant states to respect the terms of their agreements and treaties with Ukraine," he said. "In this regard, we reaffirm the need to adhere to the Budapest memorandum of understanding of 1994, and the treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership of 1997 between Ukraine and the Russian Federation."

Meanwhile, Jordan, a non-permanent member of the 15-nation Security Council, also called on Ukraine to "take immediate measures to resolve the causes of tension both internally and externally, and to respect human rights in particular the minority rights and to revoke any measures that have been taken that undermine such rights."

"At the same time, we stress on the need of non-interference in the internal affairs of Ukraine so that the country decides its political future by itself," he said.

Crimea, a multiethnic region with a large population of Russian, enjoys a high degree of autonomy after Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union in August 1991. However, Russia has maintained its only Black Sea naval base in the port of Sevastopol, Crimea.