Ukraine plans soon to launch a fresh diplomatic initiative to recover the Crimean peninsula from Russia, Finance Minister Natalia Yaresko told Reuters on Wednesday, Jan 20, the news agency reports.

"We don't agree that Crimea has gone. This will be the year we really begin pressing forward on a process to return Crimea," Yaresko said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Recently Ukraine cut power supplies to the region and its president, Petro Poroshenko, said power would be restored if Crimea were recognized as part of Ukraine.

However, Russia has given no sign that it would ever consider returning Crimea, which has a majority ethnic Russian population and holds a special place in Russian history and culture. Last month Moscow issued a new banknote dedicated to Crimea.

Yaresko said Ukraine aimed to create a forum along the lines of the so-called Geneva format, a body that included Russia, Ukraine, the European Union and the United States and operated briefly in 2014. Russia has ruled out reviving the forum.