«We were victims, now we’re rescuers»: foreign minister on how Ukraine will return Crimea to the world’s agenda

This material was prepared as part of the «How We Will Get Crimea Back» project — an initiative of Ukrainian journalists from Crimea. It’s goal is to find instruments and solutions for the de-occupation and reintegration of the peninsula.

Due to the formation of the new international union, the Crimean Platform, Kuleba has become one of the most quoted Ukrainian politicians in the Russian media sphere.

The Crimean Platform — a creation of Kuleba and his deputy, Emine Dzhaparova — is a hot topic for discussion. We met Kuleba days before the founding summit to understand how the union will work.

Anastasiya Ringis, editor of the special project «How We Will Get Crimea Back»

— This morning, on the day of this interview (August 13), 40 states had confirmed their participation in the summit. Now, at lunchtime, the number has grown to 42. What are your expectations from the summit for Ukraine? The summit’s on August 23 — say, it’s the 24th today, and you’re saying: «We've achieved: this, this, and that…»

I can already tell you what we’ve achieved. Everybody is now preoccupied with Crimea, they’re thinking about what they can do for Crimea. The summit is a political project. All state leaders and delegation leaders in attendance will be making political statements, which almost immediately will be translated into political actions. And, most importantly, these countries will be joining the Crimean Declaration. They will sign an official document, which will act as a roadmap for the further functioning of the Crimean Platform. It contains specific directions, which we’ll be taking to de-occupy Crimea. This is what Ukraine had been lacking before.

— Do we already know which countries will be working in which directions?

 — The Crimean Declaration is a large political document, unprecedented in its scale. It doesn’t specify these details. But we are indeed working together with other countries, we see their interest in looking after specific issues. This is the further path for realising the Crimean Declaration.

— We've heard President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tell Crimean journalists on the Zmiinyi Island that countries are already uniting around the subject of the Crimean de-occupation. For example, Great Britain will help Ukraine upgrade its navy. Which other partner states have indicated their aims to provide targeted aid to Ukraine?

— I will not go into particular details because these things are still being negotiated. There are countries that want to help in specific ways — depending on the experience and competence that they can provide. But I want to warn you. I see this «give us specific details» trend arising, and that’s not right.

This is a complicated process for us all. And I will be upfront: it will take years.

As a result-driven person, I will say that a result can only be achieved when there’s a system and a process. In our case, the process is our soft power. We can only have ideas and solutions when there’s context, communication, and understanding. It is our daily job to design the specifics. This is a serious job with many layers, and we need to hold on to it and break it down into smaller elements — projects, initiatives, and steps.

— Can we say that with Crimea, we’re restarting the reform process — not just in terms of foreign affairs but within the country, too?

— Crimea is a restarting process for Ukraine’s international identity. This is the first thing that we’ve done on such a high level. It’s ambitious and created by us alone. At this time (at the time of the interview, August 13 — ed.), we have managed to get 42 countries and international organisations involved.

True diplomatic magic is when those countries at later stages tell you: «Wow, great, we’re ready, and can we do this one more thing?» This is what being a player means. Crimea is Ukraine’s gateway into becoming an international player again.

When we had our first conversations about the Crimean Platform with the partner states that are now taking part in the summit on a high level, they didn’t want to hear anything about it. Their first reaction was: «Why double down on the efforts? What’s the point? What are your goals? What’s the point for us? Tell us what we gain from this…» True magic, true diplomatic magic, is when those countries at later stages tell you: «Wow, great, we’re ready, and can we do this one more thing?» This is what being a player means. Crimea is Ukraine’s gateway into becoming an international player again.

For seven years, we were victims, we told people how poorly we are, how hurt we are, and how everything is bad in Crimea. We were victims, now we’re becoming rescuers, no doubt.

— At the summit, will you be discussing the question of strengthening sanctions against Russia due to its political repression against Crimean Tatars?

— There are two problems with sanctions. The Crimean Platform will be working on them after the summit. The first problem is the loopholes in the existing sanction regime, where some manage to smuggle into Crimea things that they shouldn’t have. The second problem is the strengthening of the sanctions itself. States aren’t ready to take up clear obligations, such as «we'll place these and these sanctions in a month, in six months.» But there is a complete understanding of the fact that the loopholes need to be eradicated, and we need to be prepared to strengthen the sanctions. Therefore, sanctions are an important element, but we won’t be able to return Crimea using the sanction mechanism alone. Sanctions are not a tool, it’s an element within the big strategy on returning the temporarily occupied areas.

— The Sea of Azov is de-facto blocked for Ukraine. Russia can also block the Kerch Strait at any moment. What can our partners do to help us?

— The situation in the Black Sea is requiring the creation of a new strategy for Black Sea states that are NATO members, plus Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova who also have access to the Black Sea. If there is no such strategy or joint efforts, Russia will unreservedly dominate the Black Sea — just like it’s dominating the Sea of Azov.

The Sea of Azov and the problem of the Kerch Bridge are some of the most complicated and, at this moment, unresolvable issues simply due to geography. The geography is fully under Russian control — both from the Taman peninsula and the Crimean peninsula.

It is currently impossible — and will remain impossible until the end of the occupation — to demilitarise Crimea because Russia has turned Crimea into a military base, intimidating everyone away from it. We need new joint efforts in the Black Sea. Otherwise, we’ll lose the Black Sea just like we lost the Sea of Azov.

— Will you raise this question at the Crimean Platform?

— The Black Sea issue is currently one of the key ones in Ukraine’s foreign politics — in our relations with NATO, the U.S., let alone Turkey and other Black Sea states. The president of Ukraine has a specific initiative, which we’re discussing with our partners. Its philosophy is the following: readiness and joint action of the NATO states, as well as Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova. It’s not training where you do it and forget about it, it’s continuous joint mechanisms and actions.

— How will the Crimean Platform itself work?

— The Crimean Platform is, first and foremost, a political tool, the goal of which is to de-occupy Crimea. It will work on three levels.

On the intergovernmental level, governments will coordinate their policies and create new initiatives regarding Crimea — from heads of states and governments to foreign ministers, defence ministers, environment ministers, and other officials. On the inter-parliamentary level, the interaction of parliaments of various countries — as well as parliamentary assemblies of international organizations — will be established to create political pressure and introduce legislative initiatives. These initiatives can include, for example, the adoption of an act on the policy of non-recognition of the illegal occupation of Crimea or on the recognition of the genocide of the Crimean Tatars.

Of course, the Ukrainian parliament will have a special mission because our legislation needs to regulate everything connected to our territory. The third level is experts. This is our know-how, our creative idea. Experts will handle specific Crimea issues, they will analyse and propose ideas, which can translate into laws and policies on the parliamentary and government levels. The role of experts here is crucial.

— Can we soberly assess Ukraine’s readiness as a state for de-occupation? Do we have the institutional capacity?

— Ukraine is a peculiar state. It is never ready for anything but, one way or another, it always manages to handle specific challenges. You’ve asked a very appropriate question because I always say that every establishment within the state has to have a plan regarding not just what it’s doing to help de-occupy Crimea, but also what it’ll do when the de-occupation starts. The military, the interior ministry, the ecologists, the educators, state managers all need to have this plan. Even if it won’t be used for a year, two years, five years, or a decade … We all have a lot of work in this regard.

But Ukraine is a lot better prepared for the de-occupation of Crimea than it was at any point before in these past seven years. We now have the Strategy for De-Occupation of Crimea, the Ministry of Reintegration is realising an array of programmes related to Crimea. We’re creating the Crimean Platform. All of the wheels of the state machine are rolling, and it’s making me happy.

And if you and I make talking about Crimea «fashionable,» people will want to join in, too.