AKIPRESS.COM - The United Nations has confirmed that Senior Advisor Robert Serry feels fine after being threatened yesterday during his visit to Crimea, Ukraine, by armed men who ordered him to leave the region, the UN press service reported on March 5.

“He was met outside the main naval headquarters by a number of unidentified men who were saying that he should leave Crimea and go to the airport,” Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson explained the situation.

Mr. Serry apparently returned to his vehicle, and when the car could not drive away, he walked back to his hotel accompanied by a UN colleague.

Mr. Serry, who was dispatched to Crimea to take stock of the situation there, had been relying on Ukrainian authorities for security. He was threatened but not kidnapped, the deputy UN chief stressed.

Later, the Senior Advisor took a flight out of Simferopol and returned to Kiev to continue his mission.

Meanwhile, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has announced that he is sending Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Šimonovic to Kiev and the eastern part of Ukraine, including Crimea, to monitor the human rights situation.