The resistance to the plans of the Russian Federation to organize illegal elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, as well as the international legitimization of the results of these so-called “elections”.
The Russian Federation has intensified diplomatic, economic, and military blackmail of Ukraine and the Western community. Following the completion of Nord Stream 2, the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, and the lack of clear messages about the possible timing of Ukraine's NATO MAP (NATO Membership Action Plan), the Russian Federation has felt the weakness of the collective West and continues to pursue its aggressive policу.
Thus, after the launch of the Crimean Platform, the aggressor state intensified its repressive policy against the indigenous people of Ukraine – the Crimean Tatars. Nariman Dzhelialov, Deputy Chairman of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people , Asan Akhtemov, and Aziz Akhtemov were sent to prison for two months. They are charged with Part 1 of Art. 281 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("The commission of an explosion, arson or other actions aimed at the destruction or damage of enterprises, buildings, transport infrastructure, and vehicles, communications, life support facilities to undermine the economic security and defense capabilities of the Russian Federation»), part 5 of Art. 33 ("Assistance to the crime"). It is as if they are involved in the "explosion of the gas pipeline" in Perevalne village in Simferopol district.
We know very well how such cases are fabricated in Russia for undermining buildings and communications. For example, the blowing up of houses in the Russian cities of Volgodonsk, Buynaksk, and Moscow, which the Federal Security Service (FSS) promptly "hung" on "Chechen terrorists." Fugitive officer Oleksandr Lytvynenko soon revealed to the world the true nature of the explosions: it was a special FSS operation on the eve of the 2000 presidential election to intimidate the Russian population with "terrorists" and raise Putin's rating by promising to "wet these terrorists in the toilet." As a result of the explosion, Litvinenko was poisoned with polonium. According to a similar scenario, the Kremlin tried to kill the Skripal family at the hands of General Intelligence Department agents Chepiga and Mishkin.
So, in the case of Crimea, we also see very similar handwriting regarding the explosion of the gas pipeline. The purpose of this undermining and fabrication of criminal cases against the Crimean Tatars is to sow fear of the mythical "Ukrainian saboteurs" who allegedly operate in Crimea, as well as the Ukrainian state in general. Russia tries to present the Crimean Tatar people as "terrorists" and to set other ethnic groups living in Crimea against the indigenous people. Under a similar scenario, the Putin’s regime acted in the 2000s, sowing fear and hatred among Russian society for the Chechen people.
The repressive regime did not stop at Nariman Dzhelialov and Akhtemov brothers. During September 4-10, security forces abducted a member of the Simferopol Regional Mejlis Eldar Mensitov. Fifty-eight people who came to support Akhtemov brothers and Nariman Dzhelialov were detained by Russian police servicemen, Eldar Adamanov and Shevket Useinov were "sentenced" by the local so-called "court" to administrative arrest.
The Crimean Tatar Resource Center reports that the head of the CEC Qurultai of the Crimean Tatar people Zair Smedlyaev was handed a warning from the "Russian Interior Ministry department in the Krasnogvardiyskiy district" "on the inadmissibility of violating the law on extremist activities and legislation".
Russia systematically ignores UN rules, European Parliament resolutions on human rights violations, the need to release all political prisoners, the lifting of the ban on Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, and so on. In addition, Russia has violated the Geneva Conventions, which are recognized at the UN level, as well as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and so on.
Crimeans are discriminated both on ethnic but also religious grounds: not only Muslims who are tried on fabricated cases for allegedly participating in the activities of the religious organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, but also Christians – members of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (PCU) and members of the organization "Jehovah's Witnesses".
The artificial population replacement, the promotion of high school-level militarism, criminal cases, and convictions for refusing to serve in the occupying forces are also gross violations of international law.
Russia has turned the Ukrainian peninsula into a military base, the actions of the occupiers pose a threat to the ecosystems of Crimea, and the massive construction of residential complexes for "newly arrived Russians" leads to the destruction of natural and historical monuments in Сrimea. I will add that the environmental problem forced even those Crimean people who were still very far from politics to take to the streets. For example, even the Russian media leaked information about the protests against the destruction of Foros Park.
The intensification of repressive measures in Crimea is connected not only with the Crimean Platform but also with the approach of elections to the parliament (State Duma) of the Russian Federation (well, the Russians also mind about the increasing of the so-called "exchange fund"). "United Russia" party wants all Crimeans to unite around it as a ruling party amid a "threat" from the mythical "Crimean Tatar terrorists and Ukrainian saboteurs." Although the effect of such intimidation is questionable, there are even rumors from Russian parties that holding elections in Crimea is illegal. This was directly stated, in particular, by the candidate from the "Yabloko" party, Serhiy Mitrokhin. "Crimea is not ours," is one of his campaign slogans.
Realizing that Crimea may not provide the desired result for "United Russia" (unless the results are brazenly reduced), the Kremlin is betting heavily on the population of the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. For this purpose, for the first time in a row, the compulsory certification has been carried out – granting Russian citizenship to the residents of ORDLO, which is a violation of Art. 8, 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Russia needs ORDLO certification for many reasons: to justify its aggression ("we protect our citizens!"), to influence the political life of our state in the event of ORDLO's reintegration into Ukraine on Russian terms, to ensure a positive result for the ruling party during the elections of 2021, the SSU (Security Service of Ukraine) has already announced that it has recently recorded the intensification of the issuance of Russian passports to Donetsk and Luhansk (although this process did not stop until the fall of 2021). The Service notes that this is connected with the elections to the State Duma.
Some of the residents of ORDLO are being blackmailed by the fact that without a Russian passport it will be very difficult to find a job, someone (to a lesser extent) is being encouraged, someone is being confronted with the fact. Some "certified" miners of Donbas are already being called to the "promising work" in Yakutia.
According to the various sources, Russia has distributed between 700,000 and 1,000,000 Russian passports in the occupied Donbas.
Certification is a danger. Hypothetically, each of us, unexpectedly for ourselves, can become a citizen of the Russian Federation, if they want so in the Kremlin. And then the "brotherly troops" under another contrived pretext will come "to protect us" again as the "citizens of the Russian Federation."
Of course, the tool for counteracting such mass passportization can be lawsuits in international courts from citizens who have been "stuffed" with "a double-headed eagle's passport" against the will of these people. But this can be done only in the territories controlled by official Kyiv, which, in light of recent events, is quite problematic for many residents of both Donbas and Crimea. Some people are afraid to go, because when they return to the territories that are not temporarily under Ukraine's control, people may have problems with the occupation administrations. Or, under the pretext of quarantine, Russia will restrict the entry and exit of our citizens to ORDLO or Crimea, as the occupiers have repeatedly done.
By the way, COVID-19 is another topic that should always be raised before the world community in the context of the diplomatic struggle against the aggressor. After all, the occupation administrations in Crimea and Donbas do not provide accurate information on the real state of morbidity in the territories which are temporarily out of Ukraine's control. The majority of the population in Crimea and Donbas has little choice regarding vaccination, as the Russian Federation offers to be vaccinated by the uncertified "Sputnik V". In general, Russia performed experiments on the inhabitants of ORDLO, vaccinating them with the untested "Sputnik Light" vaccine.
In addition to mass human rights violations in the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and Crimea, Russia has resorted to open military blackmail. In the first half of the year, the Russians conducted exercises in Crimea and general brought 100-120 thousand servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces to the borders of Ukraine in various directions. Russia and the Republic of Belarus are currently conducting the "West 2021" military training. Simultaneously with the exercises of the occupiers and the persecution of our citizens in Crimea, there is an intensification of hostilities in the Donbas. The occupiers fired on peaceful Maryinka and Avdiyivka towns, using large-caliber artillery and mortars prohibited by the Minsk agreements. Only on September 9-10, 8 soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were wounded and injured.
It is possible that as a result of the military training in Belarus, the Russians will be able to obtain from Alexander Lukashenko the de facto annexation of our northern neighbor. The Belarusian self-proclaimed president has no choice: no one in the West wants to talk to him, the majority of Belarusians are against him, part of the Russian establishment is already demanding to replace Lukashenko with a more loyal politician. During the days of the exercises in Belarus, leaflets appeared claiming that the self-proclaimed president was "an enemy of the union state of Russia and Belarus." Thus, even pro-Russian citizens may turn away from the Belarusian dictator. No one in the international arena will stand up for Belarus, so Lukashenko has two options: either leave the post or "throw himself into Putin's strong arms."
If Russia manages to occupy Belarus, Ukraine will be the next target. The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that there is a high probability of a full-scale war with Russia.
How should the Ukrainian authorities and the international community act in this situation? Of course, sanctions remain a key mechanism. However, the existing sanctions are not enough to stop the aggressor, as evidenced by the situation in Crimea, and the intensification of hostilities in the Donbas. At the very least, both the National Security and Defense Council and Ukraine's partner countries, in particular the Crimean Platform member states, should impose additional sanctions against people who are involved in human rights violations in the occupied peninsula (investigators, FSS staff, judges, policemen, prosecutors).
However, this is not enough. The key mechanism to deter Russia should be the non-recognition of the results of the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, which will take place on September 19. And not just the election results in Crimea, but in general.
And the reasons for this are more than enough: not only armed aggression against Ukraine forced certification, mass human rights violations in the occupied territories, but also mass human rights violations in Russia itself. Remember the attempted poisoning of Navalny and his further imprisonment, the violent dispersal of peaceful manifestations, criminal cases against activists, and changes in the election law, which does not give a chance for fair and transparent elections in Russia.
The West did not recognize the election results in Belarus for similar violations. Now it's Russia's turn.
On September 8 the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Resolution "On the Appeal of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to the International Community in Connection with Illegal Preparation of Elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in the Temporarily Occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol" and Luhansk regions. " By this resolution, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine "addresses the Security Council and the UN General Assembly, the OSCE, the European Union, NATO, other international organizations, parliamentary assemblies, foreign parliaments and governments and calls on:
1. To use all necessary means to warn the authorities and the occupation administration of the Russian Federation against holding elections to the State Duma in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine – the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol and prevent the participation of Ukrainian citizens living in the occupied part of Donbas.
2. Not to recognize the legitimacy of the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation on September 19, 2021, and its subsequent decisions in the event of voting in the temporarily occupied part of Ukraine.
3. Apply sanctions against the representatives of the authorities and the occupation administration of the Russian Federation, who involve citizens of Ukraine in the occupied territories in the elections to the State Duma, and thus violate the sovereignty of Ukraine.
That is, with this Resolution Ukraine formulates its demand to the international community not to recognize the legitimacy of the State Duma elections. Currently, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, the Office of the President of Ukraine , the Ukrainian and the Crimean Tatar diasporas need to conduct an information campaign to explain the need for non-recognition of the elections in Russia. After all, as the example of the previous elections to the State Duma shows, which the world community did not recognize only partially (we are talking about the elections in Crimea), half measures against the aggressor state cannot stop armed aggression in Ukraine, interference in other countries and human rights violations.
In addition, Ukraine must convey to the EU countries its position on the need to prosecute citizens of EU countries who, in violation of Ukrainian law, visit Crimea. This is especially true for persons representing central government or local government. Moreover, some European politicians have already "decided" to go to the polls in the occupied Crimea. And this although the OSCE Parliament Assembly will not send its observers to the "elections" (this word should still be written in quotation marks) to the Russian Federation.
It will be recalled that at various times officials – Thierry Mariani (Member of the European Parliament, France), Udo Hemmelgarn (Member of the Bundestag, Germany), Peter Marchek (Member of the Slovak Parliament), Jaromir Koglicek (Member of the European Parliament, Cheh Republic), Yukio Hatoyama (former Prime Minister of Japan), Italian MPs Bartolomeo Pepe, Ivana Simeoni, Paola de Pin, and dozens of other parliamentarians from Germany, Slovakia, Hungary, Italy, France, and other EU countries tried to legitimize the attempted annexation of Crimea in the eyes of the Western World.
These and similar individuals should be prosecuted under EU law, and if such rules are vague, then our Western partners should legislate new provisions on strict liability for violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine and other countries where Russia pulls its claws.
Sergiy Parkhomenko, Expert of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center