Six years of occupation: have we lost Crimea? (meeting details)
Vladimir Balukh tells. Photo - https://nmiu.com.ua
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Six years of occupation: have we lost Crimea? (meeting details)

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Six years of occupation: have we lost Crimea? (meeting details)
Meeting with witnesses of the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014. Photo – https://nmiu.com.ua

What factors contributed to the violation of the territorial integrity of an independent state in the center of Europe in the 21st century? Thanks to what and to whom Russia managed to capture Crimea in 2014? Has Ukraine lost the peninsula irretrievably during the six years of Russian occupation? Participants of the meeting with witnesses of the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, which took place on February 29 at the National Museum of History of Ukraine, sought answers to these and other questions.

The following people shared their stories and thoughts with those present at the event: Andriy Shchekun, co-coordinator of the Euromaidan-Crimea movement; Volodymyr Balukh, Ukrainian public activist in Crimea, political prisoner of the Kremlin regime; Ilmi Umerov, Deputy Chairman of the Crimean Tatar People’s Majlis; journalists Anna Andrievska and Olena Khalimon; Ihor Chaika, journalist, director, chairman of the Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine (2016-2019).

Andriy Shchekun, starting the conversation, noted that one of the main reasons for Russia’s seizure of the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014 was the inaction of central authorities, which for a long time did not support either the Crimean Tatar People’s Majlis or pro-Ukrainian public institutions, which actually remained alone. on its own with pro-Russian organizations openly funded by Russia. According to Andriy Shchekun, another reason why Russia was in a hurry to seize Crimea was the gradual growth of the pro-Ukrainian population. Thus, at the time of 2004, in the election of the President of Ukraine, Crimea gave about 14% in favor of Viktor Yushchenko, in 2012 in the elections to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine was already 20-23% in favor of pro-Ukrainian representatives in parliament. That is, the number of pro-Ukrainian population increased every year. “We,members of the Euromaidan-Crimea movement in 2014 actually witnessed such a kind of explosion, when a column of people chanted “Glory to Ukraine!” on the streets of Simferopol over the weekend. In all more than 20 years since Ukraine’s independence, we have never seen such a thing. And this unity has really raised a fairly large layer of support for Ukraine in the Crimea, “Andriy Shchekun stressed.

Ilmi Umerov, an active participant in the events of that time in defense of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, spoke: “ . Insufficient attention was paid to Crimea. In fact, Crimea was not Ukrainian or pro-Ukrainian. When I was in the government or in the Verkhovna Rada of the ARC, I sometimes looked like a white crow with my pro-Ukrainian position. ” Mr. Umerov stressed that in February 2014, after Yanukovych’s escape, when Russia decided, according to Putin, to take Crimea, it was during this period that the new Ukrainian government proved largely incapable, and Crimea was effectively surrendered without resistance. The only resistance, according to Ilmi Umerov, were rallies,held by the Crimean Tatar People’s Majlis together with pro-Ukrainian organizations, such as the rally on February 26, then pickets near military units, pickets along the roads, and mass, numerous, which showed that there is no such pro-Russian unity in Crimea as Putin and his aides said .

Crimean journalist Anna Andrievska, who is being persecuted by the Russian authorities for her professional activities and was included in the list of terrorists and extremists of Rosfinmonitoring, stressed in her speech that, unfortunately, during the 6 years of occupation, the Crimea issue occupies less and less space in Ukraine. According to some studies, the topic of Crimea is devoted to only 2% of Ukrainian television and radio, which is very small and carries great risks. According to Anna, the information that still reaches our space is a bit distorted, that is, on the one hand, the Ukrainian media show that everything is bad in Crimea, there are some repressions, some traitors, on the other – that there are only military and military equipment and nothing more. “In fact, there is a very colorful life, of course, there is a powerful Crimean Tatar movement, peoplewho try to resist or provide assistance to those to whom the security forces come every day. All this is very important both for the perception of Ukrainian society and the world community in general, because only thanks to the resistance actions that took place in Crimea in 2014, the world was able to convey the information that Crimea is not a Russian region, that people did not go there. voluntarily, “said Anna Andrievska. Instead, the return of the occupied territories, as Anna noted, must begin with the return of the truth about the occupied territory, and we hope that this truth will reach the people and perhaps the myths that are artificially created and spread in the information space today will be overcome. People should know that it was a defiant capture, a special operation, and not the free will of the Crimean people.All this is very important both for the perception of Ukrainian society and the world community in general, because only thanks to the resistance actions that took place in Crimea in 2014, the world was able to convey the information that Crimea is not a Russian region, that people did not go there. voluntarily, “said Anna Andrievska. Instead, the return of the occupied territories, as Anna noted, must begin with the return of the truth about the occupied territory, and we hope that this truth will reach the people and perhaps the myths that are artificially created and spread in the information space today will be overcome. People should know that it was a defiant capture, a special operation, and not the free will of the Crimean people.All this is very important both for the perception of Ukrainian society and the world community in general, because only thanks to the resistance actions that took place in Crimea in 2014, the world was able to convey the information that Crimea is not a Russian region, that people did not go there. voluntarily, “said Anna Andrievska. Instead, the return of the occupied territories, as Anna noted, must begin with the return of the truth about the occupied territory, and we hope that this truth will reach the people and perhaps the myths that are artificially created and spread in the information space today will be overcome. People should know that it was a defiant capture, a special operation, and not the free will of the Crimean people.The world managed to convey the information that Crimea is not a Russian region, that people did not go there voluntarily, “Anna Andrievska stressed. Instead, the return of the occupied territories, as Anna noted, must begin with the return of the truth about the occupied territory, and we hope that this truth will reach the people and perhaps the myths that are artificially created and spread in the information space today will be overcome. People should know that it was a defiant capture, a special operation, and not the free will of the Crimean people.The world managed to convey the information that Crimea is not a Russian region, that people did not go there voluntarily, “Anna Andrievska stressed. Instead, the return of the occupied territories, as Anna noted, must begin with the return of the truth about the occupied territory, and we hope that this truth will reach the people and perhaps the myths that are artificially created and spread in the information space today will be overcome. People should know that it was a defiant capture, a special operation, and not the free will of the Crimean people.which are artificially created today and are heard in the information space, will be overcome. People should know that it was a defiant capture, a special operation, and not the free will of the Crimean people.which are artificially created today and are heard in the information space, will be overcome. People should know that it was a defiant capture, a special operation, and not the free will of the Crimean people.

To this end, so that the world would know more about the events in Crimea in 2014, journalists Anna Andrievska and Olena Khalimon have already published two books, which were presented at the event: collections of memoirs of Crimean people about the Russian occupation of Crimea in 2014 – “People “Gray zone”. Witnesses of the Russian annexation of Crimea “and” Book of Testimonies. Anatomy of the Russian annexation of Crimea “. In these collections, more than fifty stories refute the myths that the annexation of the peninsula was bloodless and that “the Crimean people did not try to resist, but voluntarily chose Russia.”
Olena Khalimon, author and editor of Crimean projects covering repressions against Crimeans, in turn, added that analyzing the events of 2014, she understood one point: the occupation of Crimea was provided by weapons and propaganda. This is what the authors write in the second book, covering all the myths, fakes and facts of propaganda that have been recorded in the media, on the Internet, where they spread.

Six years of occupation: have we lost Crimea? (meeting details)
Vladimir Balukh tells. Photo – https://nmiu.com.ua

Crimean activist Volodymyr Balukh, who was released from Russian captivity in September 2019 as part of an exchange between Ukraine and Russia, told about his history of “relations” with the Russian occupier: this is Ukraine, and the Ukrainian flag on the territory of the peninsula is legal, it is my history that shows how important it is for them to destroy any reminder of Ukraine. Because the resources they used to destroy this Ukrainian flag over a simple village house somewhere in the wilderness of Crimea are simply amazing. ”

During the event, a documentary film by director Igor Chaika “Crimea Island. Deja Vu. Before the screening, the author said that the film was supposed to appear in 2010: . Even then, it was obvious that Russia would sooner or later seize the peninsula, and only the Ukrainian authorities did not want to see it. Unfortunately, in 2010 we did not manage to make a film in which we wanted to show all the danger that poses to Ukraine, and only in 2014, after all these events, we managed to finish the film. ” According to Mr. Ihor, while the Ukrainian authorities completely ignored what was happening in Crimea, what happened happened.

Well-known Crimean scientist Petro Volvach emphasized after the screening that this documentary should be shown all over Ukraine, because, in his opinion, there is an answer to why we lost Crimea: how the non-Ukrainian government of Ukraine surrendered Crimea for many years.

At the end of the meeting, all participants agreed that in order to return the truth about those events, it is very important to demand truthful information from the authorities to understand who and what caused this crime, why the Crimean people were not protected. “During the 6 years of occupation of Crimea,” said Anna Andrievska, “a lot of questions have accumulated, first of all to the authorities, because, for example, no one still knows for sure whether the Ukrainian military was ordered to defend itself in Crimea. Those who “went to the mainland” said that there were no orders from above, but some Ukrainian generals claim that there were orders, but the military in Crimea did not seem to carry them out. And for 6 years now, we don’t know what was really going on. ”
However, the most important thing, according to Vladimir Balukh, is to punish the guilty, because every unpunished evil produces the next, and we got the situation in 2014 precisely because no one was punished for “Meshkovshchina”, for the events in Tuzla, for rampant Russian separatism in 1990. those in the Crimea.

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