The Ambassador of Ukraine to Austria Oleksandr Shcherbak wrote about this on his Facebook page.

According to the ambassador, in early October he asked the head of the architectural bureau, Wolf Prix, not to ruin his reputation and to change his mind about participating in the construction of the opera, but he refused. The Ukrainian government is already considering imposing sanctions on architects.

"At this stage, when rumors are being vigorously confirmed by the Russian media, I have no choice but to express my regret and tell architect Prix that Ukraine is seriously considering sanctions against him and his bureau. Our partners around the world will be informed that once respectable the architectural bureau is currently concluding dubious agreements with Putin", - Scherbak said.

Correspondents of the Suspilne Crimea sent an information request to the architectural bureau to explain why they decided to support the project in Russian-occupied Crimea. We will continue to inform you of the details.

The opera house, according to the plan, should be located on the shore of Sevastopol Bay.

What is known

• The EU, the US, and their partners have imposed sanctions on Russia over its occupation of Crimea. In September 2020, the Council of the European Union decided to extend until March 15, 2021, the sanctions imposed in 2014 against Russia for violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.