On the eve of the seventh anniversary of the proclamation of Independence of Ukraine, by Decree of the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma No. 944/98 of August 23, 1998, the award of the President of Ukraine Hero of Ukraine was established (with the award of the Order of the Golden Star or the Order of the State).
On March 16, 2000, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine On State Awards of Ukraine, according to which the state award of Ukraine – the highest degree of distinction in Ukraine – is the title of Hero of Ukraine (with the award of the Order of the Golden Star or the Order of the State). This Law shall apply to persons awarded with insignia of the President of Ukraine prior to the entry into force of this Law.
In order to bring the legislation in line with this Law, a new Charter of the title of Hero of Ukraine, new descriptions of the Order of the Golden Star and the Order of the State of the title of Hero of Ukraine and a new miniature for them were approved by Decree of the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma No. 1114/2002 of December 02, 2002.
Over the entire period of existence of the distinction and the title of Hero of Ukraine, they were awarded to more than 700 people, including 9 Crimeans.
With the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, some bearers of this, without exaggeration, the most important title, unfortunately, showed themselves not at all from the heroic side. Thus, Hero of Ukraine Borys Deich, who received the title on August 24, 2013, supported the occupation of Crimea and took part in a fake referendum on March 16, 2014. Hero of Ukraine Fevzi Yakubov (received the title on October 4, 2004) in 2015 called on the Crimean Tatar youth not to participate in organizations and events directed against the Russian occupation of Crimea. Hero of Ukraine Mykola Bahrov (received the title on August 21, 2007) welcomed the occupation of Crimea and thanked President Putin for the occupation of the peninsula.
These holders of the title of Hero of Ukraine have already departed to another world, but among the Crimeans there are still Heroes of Ukraine, who today have this highest state award of Ukraine and at the same time help the occupiers to destroy Ukraine and destroy Ukrainians. In particular, we are talking about Oleksandr Batalin, who received the title of Hero of Ukraine on August 24, 2012. On June 12, 2014, he became a member of the Public Chamber of the Republic of Crimea, and a member of the United Russia party, and now the Fiolent plant, which he has been running for many years, provides the production of certain products for the Russian military industry.
Shouldn’t the Ukrainian state rethink the philosophy of awarding the state award of Ukraine – the highest degree of distinction in Ukraine with the title of Hero of Ukraine, so that only worthy Ukrainians receive it, and deprive all collaborators of this title. Moreover, we already have a precedent for deprivation of the title of Hero of Ukraine due to the application of sanctions to a person! By the way, the only person who was thus deprived of the title of Hero of Ukraine was also the Crimean collaborator General Director of Massandra Mykola Boyko: by decree of the President of Ukraine No. 265/2021 of June 24, 2021, personal sanctions were applied to him in the form of deprivation of state awards!
The CTRC calls on the National Security and Defense Council to pay attention to the collaborators of the activities of Aleksandr Batalin and apply personal sanctions to him in the form of deprivation of state awards.