A voice for de-occupation of Crimea

Presidential Commissioner of Ukraine for the Crimean Tatar Affairs Mustafa Dzhemilev will speak at the UN Security Council on March 18. The leader of the Crimean Tatars plans to discuss in New York human rights violations in Crimea that contradict provisions of the 1949 Geneva Convention which deal with the status of occupied territories and the protection of civilians under occupation.

How do you assess the attitude of the international community to the Crimea issue, two years after its occupation by Russia?

“Diplomats and ambassadors with whom we frequently communicate are unanimous in saying they do not recognize and will never recognize the occupation of Crimea. But non-recognition is different from taking any active steps. There are countries with very firm positions, including the UK, the US, and Canada, which always insist on strengthening the sanctions against Russia. But there are also nations which are tired of the sanctions, believe that they are detrimental to their economies, and it is precisely these nations which are greatly infiltrated with people who lobby Russian interests.

“It is not so simple, but in general, I do not think that any country will recognize Russia’s illegal actions. The occupation of Crimea will be a permanent burden for Russia and the sooner it will let the peninsula go, the better it will do for itself. But it is not very likely under Vladimir Putin.”

Who and how should we influence, then, to make Russia eventually return Crimea to Ukraine? What place does the strengthening of sanctions have in it?

“Strengthening of sanctions has taken center stage. In addition, we need to enhance Ukraine’s defense capabilities, because Putin, despite having occupied Crimea, has not achieved his main goal: he believed that he could install the leadership in Kyiv that would accept this occupation, and he would then have no problems with the international community. But this has not happened. Putin’s primary bet now is destabilizing the situation inside Ukraine and trying to create conditions which would force the West to abandon us.”