Today, August 21, on the International Day of Remembrance and Commemoration of the Victims of Terrorism, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center calls on the entire civilized world to recognize Russia as a terrorist state.
Since 2014, the beginning of the temporary occupation of Crimea, the Russian Federation has begun an active fight against the so-called terrorism and extremism. In fact, this is a tool to suppress the non-violent resistance of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people and pro-Ukrainian activists who opposed the occupation of their homeland.
For a position or opinion that differs from the official position of the de facto authorities in Crimea, people are accused of terrorism or extremism.
The most common tool in the fight against Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian activists who oppose the actions of the de facto authorities in Crimea was the initiation of criminal cases under Art. 205.5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Organization of the activities of a terrorist organization and participation in the activities of such an organization). To date, 95 people are being prosecuted for their alleged participation in the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization.
Another tool for persecuting dissent is Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Organization of the activities of an extremist organization), which is used against followers of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization. To date, 13 people are being prosecuted in this so-called case.
In addition, repressions are actively used on the peninsula against the indigenous Crimean Tatar people, using Art. 280.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (public calls to commit actions aimed at violating the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation). Under this article, the Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, the head of the Department for Legal Affairs and Foreign Affairs of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Eskender Bariiev and the Head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Refat Chubarov are being prosecuted. And the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people itself was recognized as an extremist organization and banned on April 26, 2016. Despite the order of the International Court of Justice dated April 19, 2017 to cancel this decision, it has not yet been fulfilled.
But, despite such an active fight against terrorism and extremism, there are more and more victims of terror on the peninsula. According to the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, during the entire period of occupation, the death toll reached 58, 30 of whom were victims of terror (8 Crimean Tatars).
On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As a result of rocket attacks on Ukrainian settlements, thousands of civilians were killed – representatives of different ethnic groups and confessions, indigenous peoples, including hundreds of children.
Russia is a terrorist state. We must stop it.
In this regard, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center calls on the world to recognize Russia as a terrorist state, which will have important consequences in the context of the war in Ukraine:
– a ban on the export and sale of defense products to such a country;
– additional measures to control the export of dual-use products;
– enhanced financial monitoring of transactions with counterparties of the sponsoring country of terrorism;
– freezing the assets of a terrorist state;
– secondary sanctions against those individuals and countries trading with a terrorist state;
– removal of diplomatic immunity from representatives of a terrorist country;
– increased outflow of business from a terrorist country due to significant economic and reputational losses for international companies that will continue to work in such a country;
– strengthening the isolation of the terrorist country;
– a reputational blow to the state.