The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expresses its strong protest in connection with the implementation by the Russian Federation of another draft for military service in the annexed Crimea and demands the Russian Federation to ensure the unconditional fulfillment of its international obligations as an occupying state. This was reported by the press service of the department.
“Such actions of the Russian Federation are a gross violation of international humanitarian law, which prohibits Russia, as an occupying state, from forcing protected persons to serve in its armed or auxiliary forces. It is also forbidden to exert pressure and propaganda in favor of voluntary entry into the army , as well as the transfer of protected persons outside the occupied territory”,- the statement said.
The Foreign Ministry notes that in conditions when the whole world is struggling with the rapid spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the announcement of the so-called spring draft looks especially outrageous. In accordance with Article 56 of the 1949 Geneva Convention for the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, “the occupying state is obligated to ensure and maintain conditions in the occupied territory that are satisfactory from the point of view of health and sanitation, in particular by resorting to the use and implementation of the measures necessary to prevent the spread of infectious diseases and epidemics.”
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine demands the Russian Federation to cancel the call for military service in the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol and ensure the unconditional fulfillment of its international obligations as an occupying state”,- the statement stressed.