Seven years ago, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 68/262 “Territorial Integrity of Ukraine”.
The resolution became the first decisive answer of the international community to the beginning of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine. Expressing strong protest against Moscow’s blatant violation of the fundamental principles and norms of international law, The General Assembly named illegal the fake “referendum” on the status of Crimea and strongly reaffirmed Ukraine’s sovereignty, political independence, unity and territorial integrity within our state’s internationally recognized borders.
Despite the non-recognition and condemnation by the international community of the attempted annexation, not only has the Kremlin not stopped the temporary occupation of Crimea, but, on the contrary, is exacerbating the situation on the peninsula with particular audacity and extreme cynicism. Systematic political persecutions, unjustified searches, detentions and arrests of opponents of the occupation, elimination of independent media, the policy of cultural extermination of ethnic Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars, and blatant discrimination on religious grounds has become the norm of life on the occupied peninsula. Such an aggressive policy is aimed at intimidating the population of Crimea to suppress any manifestations of disagreement with the Russian occupation.
In order to cement its control over Crimea, Moscow grossly violates norms of international humanitarian law, in particular by carrying out systematic relocations of the Russia-loyal population to the peninsula to change its demographic composition, conducting regular illegal elections and military conscription campaigns in the occupied territory, illegally expropriating property in favor of the persons close to the Kremlin’s regime, etc. Through an accelerated militarization the peninsula itself is being transformed into a military base that threatens the security and stability of the whole region.
Another example of Russia's flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and human rights law was the deprivation of Ukrainian citizens of the right to own land on the peninsula. This step is nothing but an attempt to force them into acquiring the Russian citizenship.
Russia is also continuing its armed aggression against Ukraine in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, undermining the fundamental principles of international law, on which international relations, world security and international order are based.
These internationally illegal actions of the Russian Federation prompted the General Assembly to adopt resolutions 71/205, 72/190, 73/263, 74/168, 75/192 “Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine” and 73/194, 74/17, 75/29 “Problem of the militarization of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, as well as parts of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov”. In these documents, the General Assembly condemned the temporary occupation and militarization of Crimea, violation by the Russian occupation administration of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and called on the Russian Federation to fulfill its obligations under international law as the occupying power.
Ukraine will continue to take all measures in accordance with international law to counter the Russian aggression, to protect the rights of Ukrainian citizens, to restore its territorial integrity and to ensure full compensation by Russia for the damages caused by its illegal actions.
The approval of the Strategy for De-occupation and Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol (March 11, 2021) and the National Strategy for Human Rights (March 24, 2021) became important steps in this direction. The work of the Crimea Platform, which we are setting up together with our international partners to consolidate the efforts aimed at de-occupation of Crimea, will constitute a key part of this endeavor.