Political blackmail – that is what RT called a recent resolution that Ukraine’s parliament enacted calling on the United Nations and other international organizations to commemorate the victims of the Crimean Tatar genocide and condemn Russia’s continued violation of Crimean Tatars’ rights and freedoms. RT disputes Ukraine’s assertion that Russia continues to aggressively militarize the Crimean peninsula and violate the rights of Crimean Tatars and ethnic Ukrainians without reprieve, dismisses the Ukrainian resolution as meaningless and once again repeats the Kremlin mantra about the ineffectiveness of Russia sanctions and the voluntary reunification of Crimea with the Russian.
On June 2 Ukraine’s parliament enacted a resolution aimed at the UN, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and other governments and organizations to draw their attention to the human and national rights violations taking place in Russian annexed Crimea and to recognize the 1944 deportation of Crimean Tatars as a genocide.
RT treats the resolution with disdain, calling Ukraine’s position a “hopeless dead-end”. Ukraine’s call to increase sanctions against Russia are falling on deaf ears, the publication claims, as ever more countries are cozying up to Russia, eager to get rid of sanctions and get back to business as usual. The publication completely ignores the 1944 Crimean Tatar deportation, something that features prominently in the Ukrainian parliamentary statement.
Russia’s militarization of Crimea and the unrelenting violation of human rights on the peninsula have been called out by the European Union, the United Nations and many other international organizations.
In March 2020 EU High Representative Josep Borrell issued a statement on Crimea and Sevastopol where he noted that “Six years on from the illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation, the European Union remains steadfast in its commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The European Union reiterates that it does not recognize and continues to condemn this violation of international law.”
The statement also points out that “the increasing militarization of the peninsula continues to negatively impact the security situation in the Black Sea region. In violation of international humanitarian law, Russian citizenship and conscription in the armed forces of the Russian Federation have been imposed on Crimean residents.”
Continued Russian aggression, violation of human rights in occupied Crimea were also discussed the UN General Assembly in February 2020. The Crimean Human Rights Group conducts monitoring and documentation of human rights violations and war crimes in Crimea, as do such international human rights organizations as Human Rights Watch.
RT also claims that Ukraine’s parliament enacted this resolution to blackmail the West and Germany in particular on the eve of Ukrainian-German talks. Once again, RT has got it wrong, as the resolution was enacted after the Ukrainian-German meeting had already taken place.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba pointed out on his Facebook page that Ukraine’s delegation was the first to be received in Berlin after the Coronavirus quarantine. Kuleba noted that the de-occupation of Crimea featured prominently in the talks.
StopFake has debunked many Russian fakes about Crimea and Crimea Tatars, among them Crimean Tatars owe Stalin, Crimean Tatars deported for treason and desertion, Crimea chose Russia because Kyiv abused the peninsula, Ukrainian diaspora condemns sanctions against Crimea, Bundestag calls for lifting Russia sanctions.
