The decision has been made. We’ll get Crimea back — and here’s how
The majority of Ukrainians — 61% - are convinced that Crimea should be part of Ukraine (Фото: Krym. Realii)
Ukraine’s key argument is: Crimea is Ukraine and Russia is an occupant state. The establishment of the Crimean Platform and the Strategy for De-Occupation and Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Crimea give us hope that we can move from stating the obvious to developing and implementing specific mechanisms.
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.
Anastasiya Ringis, Oleksandra Dvoretska, Olga Dukhnych
In seven years, Russia has not managed to legalise its right to the stolen peninsula. Throughout this time, the Kremlin’s been trying to cajole the world that it’s done and dusted: Crimea is fully integrated into the Russian state.
The Kerch Bridge, the investments made into the infrastructure, the expansion of the Russian military contingent, the construction development of Sevastopol and Yalta, as well as hundreds of thousands of displaced people «from mainland Russia». All these things make seemingly good arguments for Russia to use in the future when justifying to the world why it can claim Crimea.
Yet, no.
Ukraine’s key argument is a slogan. We say: «Crimea is Ukraine» and «Russia is an occupant state.» Ukraine’s systemic position is enough to make its western partners implement sanctions against Russian companies and officials, to make Crimea an even costlier occupation project for the Russian state.
All these years, Crimean Tatars and Crimean residents have been talking tirelessly about getting Crimea back and de-occupying it. Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the creation of the Crimean Platform before the UN General Assembly in September 2020. It’s a diplomatic initiative that unites political leaders and experts from various countries with the aim of getting Crimea back. «We will get Crimea back,» the president of Ukraine said in his interview for this magazine. However, he warns that the process won’t be easy.
Volodymyr Zelensky's big interview about the returning of the occupied Crimea
This interview is the first open conversation between a Ukrainian state leader and journalists from Crimea since 2014. This special project — an initiative of the Public Interest Journalism Lab and NV magazine — is an example of synergy between Crimean media workers, rights defenders, activists, politicians, and officials days before the Crimean Platform summit. We came together to draft our tasks on the pathway to de-occupying Crimea.
Some Crimea-related issues are already being resolved — for example, the protection of Ukrainian citizens and the interests of the Ukrainian state in international courts. But new challenges appear every year. The impending environmental catastrophe in Crimea and restrictions on movement for Crimeans, introduced under the pretext of the pandemic, are some of them. In this special issue we don’t just discuss the problems, we also try to find solutions and formulate key arguments.
Legal war
Our trump card is our success in the legal war. Thanks to the decision of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Russia received the status of an occupant state that on a mass scale violates the rights of citizens living in occupied territories. All these years have led to the emergence of a generation of human rights defenders in Ukraine and Crimea, who document war crimes and collect an evidence database for future court hearings against Russia. The First Deputy of the Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Daria Svyrydova, wrote about this subject in her article.
Giving Сrimean Tatars their rights
Another strong move is protecting the rights of the indigenous peoples — in particular, Crimean Tatars. It was them who came to the Crimean parliament on February 26 to defend the statehood of Ukraine on the peninsula. The majority of political prisoners in Crimea are Crimean Tatars. This special issue doesn’t just share their stories. Crimean Tatar activist Nariman Dzhelal and Ukrainska Pravda journalist Sonya Lukashova wrote articles about how Crimeans organise themselves and help each other in the face of repression.
The law on the indigenous peoples of Ukraine was finally approved in July 2021. It protects the rights of the Crimean Tatars, Karaites, and Krymchaks. But this won’t be enough unless the Crimean Tatar national territorial autonomy is created. Protecting the indigenous peoples and restoring historical justice is a weighty argument for the civilised world. The status of autonomy will allow these people to create representative bodies of self-government that can work on de-occupation in the future.
Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev talked to the famous Crimean journalist Mykola Semena about how Ukrainians should be supporting Crimean Tatars in their aim to autonomy and what this status would mean for the return of Crimea.
Strategy for de-occupation and transitional justice
The Strategy for De-Occupation and Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Crimea — which was approved by the president — gives hope of moving from stating the obvious to developing and implementing specific mechanisms. This is not just about the creation of a security system for the whole of the Black Sea region. The chief editor of Black Sea News, Andriy Klymenko, has detailed how Crimea was militarised. At the same time, Ukraine needs to work on implementing transitional justice — a transition from war to peace, which would take into account justice for criminals and the restoration of victims' rights. In her text, Alyona Lunova wrote about what Ukraine is doing and what is required.
Politics of non-recognition and sanctions
Hosting the Crimean Platform summit brings the topic of Crimea back to the world agenda, as well as counteracts Russian propaganda in the information space. In his interview, Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba talked about what happens after the summit. Many things will depend on our ability to turn the declaration, signed by more than 30 countries, into tangible help and an action plan. Firstly, we need to insist on the politics of non-recognition. If Ukraine wants all of its international partners to play by the rules when it comes to the question of not recognising the annexation of Crimea, it needs to establish these rules, make them public, determine the punishment for violating them, and — most importantly — follow them itself. The sanction politics will also be part of this politics of non-recognition and will help maintain and strengthen the sanctions against Russia. The Crimean Center for Investigative Reporting wrote an article explaining how sanctions work and which of them are most effective.
Human rights protection
The occupant state is executing war crimes against millions of Crimeans: the forceful imposition of Russian passports, the militarisation of education, and the illegal military conscription. 9,500 prisoners were taken to Russia to sit out their sentences — a direct violation under the Geneva Convention. And the situation has only worsened in the last 18 months. Under the guise of the coronavirus pandemic, Moscow has repressed all of the residents of Crimea, increasing the gap between the Ukrainians, by limiting their access to education, healthcare, and social services. A Krym.Realii correspondent, Anna Andrievska, wrote about how COVID-19 impacted Crimea residents, making its existing problems even more current. Russia is blocking any possibility of an independent monitoring visit of international organisations to Crimea, which is turning the peninsula into a territory of lawlessness and fear.
Ties between people and culture preservation
Crimean activists and human rights defenders are keeping in touch with those who have stayed in Crimea. Jamala talks in her video story about how important it is for her to know what the Crimean youth is thinking. The «Occupation generation» article allows the children to answer this question themselves. These ties help to resolve problems like access to education, issuing Ukrainian-style documents, and receiving social and medical care. Not only is retaining human ties important for the support of our citizens, but also for the further reintegration process. The Ukrainian state must fight for the right of those citizens who are living under occupation to receive education in their native language and, of course, for preserving the cultural inheritance. Alim Aliev and Rustem Khalilov wrote about the importance of the latter.
Business and economy
The differences in conducting business in Ukraine and Russia limit the realisation of economic freedom and increase taxes and fines. Moreover, Russia has a much wider application scope for persecuting entrepreneurs, which has never happened in Ukraine’s legislation. That’s why it is necessary to expand the list of categories of people who have suffered from the occupation. This was explained by economic commentator Andrii Ianitskyi.
Environment
Floods, soil pollution, artificial settlements, the construction development of the peninsula’s recreational areas in conditions where the critical infrastructure is not designed for this many inhabitants and not enough waste recycling systems exist — these are the new realities of the resort peninsula. Max Koshelev’s article «Endangered ecology» discusses this issue, while Tetyana Kozak writes about how the Russian Federation encourages the relocation of its citizens to Crimea. Until now, Ukraine has not used an important mechanism of international non-governmental ecological organisations by virtually not cooperating with partner states that are ready to help with environmental protection and possibly become advocates of the peninsula’s de-occupation. These days, the environment is something the world could unite around.
Many questions remain regarding the return of Crimea. This special issue only contains some of the answers. Other questions are becoming more and more urgent and require immediate solutions or, at least, long-term strategies. But the main answer is this: we will get Crimea back. For that to happen, we need to grow in our strength and reform our state. Let’s stop looking at Crimea as our source of pain; it is a stimulus for Ukraine’s development over the next decade.
All materials of the «How We Will Get Crimea Back» project can be found in Ukrainian, Russian, English, and Crimean Tatar on the special web platform of the NV website.
