Detachable Subdivision
"Rivne Professional College of
National University of Life
and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine"
Eleven years ago, on February 26, 2014, a rally of thousands of Crimean Tatars and pro-Ukrainian activists was held in Simferopol in support of the territorial integrity of Ukraine and against holding an extraordinary session of the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea.
Then, at the initiative of the Mejlis, about 12,000 Crimean Tatars gathered near the Crimean parliament building. They held their national flags and the flags of Ukraine in their hands. The protesters chanted: “Glory to Ukraine – Glory to the Heroes!”, “Gang away!”, “Crimea – Ukraine!”.
Long before the occupation of Crimea, Russia created a powerful agent network there, which destabilized the socio-political situation. The operation to seize the peninsula began on February 20, 2014 - it was on this day that the first violations of the procedure for crossing the state border of Ukraine through the Kerch Strait by the armed forces of the Russian Federation were recorded. At the same time, irregular armed formations of mercenaries from among local residents, led by officers of the special services and armed forces of the Russian Federation, were created and armed.
On February 23, a 20,000-strong rally was held in Sevastopol, where a Russian citizen, Chaly, was “proclaimed mayor.” On February 26, Russian special services, using the “Sevastopol scenario,” simulated mass discontent with the “Kiev authorities” of Simferopol residents and organized a gathering of supporters of the “Russian Spring” in front of the Crimean parliament. However, a powerful rally of Ukrainian patriotic forces, including the Crimean Tatars, nullified the aggressors’ plans and thwarted their desire to present Russia’s occupation of Crimea as the result of a violent expression of the will of the indigenous inhabitants of the peninsula. On February 26, as a result of clashes outside the building of the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea, two people died and several dozen were injured. Later, after the occupation of the peninsula, the Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case (the so-called “February 26 case”) on this fact and organized a political trial of Akhtem Chiygoz, Mustafa Degermenji, Ali Asanov and other Crimean Tatar activists.
The very next day, February 27, special forces and airborne troops of the Russian Federation seized the buildings of the Council of Ministers and the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, over which they raised the Russian flag, and the deputies of the Supreme Council of Crimea “adopted” a decision to hold the so-called referendum on the status of the peninsula. This pseudo-plebiscite took place on March 16 with a large number of armed Russian servicemen, and the “referendum” was boycotted by the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people. Before that – on March 1, 2014 – the Federation Council supported Putin’s appeal for permission to use the Russian Armed Forces on the territory of Ukraine. Regular Russian troops and paramilitary formations seized media outlets, communications facilities, airports, the Kerch ferry, and blocked Ukrainian military units and naval bases where Ukrainian Navy ships were stationed. The enemy also took control of administrative buildings and transport highways. The Russian leadership has repeatedly claimed that these armed men are not Russian servicemen. However, after the occupation of the peninsula and the holding of a fake “referendum on the status of Crimea” there, the Russians admitted that the “little green men” were servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces.
On March 16, Russia held a so-called referendum on the status of Crimea on the occupied peninsula, and two days later, on March 18, the Kremlin signed the so-called Treaty on the Admission of the Republic of Crimea to the Russian Federation.
Eleven years have passed since then, and the situation on the Russian-occupied Ukrainian peninsula remains tense: the occupiers have chosen the tactics of intimidation and terror of the local population. Currently, the activities of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people are prohibited in Crimea. Wave after wave of repressions, searches and illegal detentions are taking place. The aggressor country cynically disregards fundamental human rights and freedoms.
The actions of the authorities of the Russian Federation to occupy part of the territory (the Autonomous Republic of Crimea) of a neighboring sovereign state and interfere in its internal affairs have caused widespread discontent and been the object of sharp criticism by the world community, which recognized the military aggression of the Russian Federation as an international crime against peace and the security of humanity, and the annexation of Crimea as a violation of the current legislation of sovereign Ukraine, fundamental norms of international law, and a number of international treaties.
The blow to Ukraine was delivered in the back secretly, without a declaration of war, during the most tragic events, when civilians were dying en masse in the center of the Ukrainian capital - during the Revolution of Dignity.
The intervention was the first part of the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine and did not end with the annexation of Crimea. The next stage was the war in eastern Ukraine, in which Ukrainian soldiers are fighting against Russian troops, terrorist separatist groups and Russian sabotage units. But our northern neighbor did not stop there. Today, Russia is trying to deprive the Ukrainian people of the right to independently decide their future, to sow panic, fear, and discord in our society.
The fight for the return of Crimea is a fight against arbitrariness. Crimea was stolen by Russia from Ukraine by force. Its annexation is the first precedent in the history of Europe since the Second World War, and Ukraine, by combining all efforts, will be able to return the peninsula and prove that Crimea is the Motherland of Ukrainians and the Crimean Tatar people, who are rightfully the masters of their land. The issue of the de-occupation of Crimea is a common task for the world community, which is united on the platform of the Crimean Platform.
Crimea is Ukraine! And we are convinced that the time will come when our Ukrainian flag will fly over Simferopol and Sevastopol, over all the settlements of the peninsula.
Oleksandr TALIMONCHUK,
Deputy Director for Educational Work
