Four Years after Enslaving Crimea, Russia Still Flouts Free World

Unexpectedly and hours after Winter Olympic flame was snuffed in Sochi, Russia, Russian soldiers landed on the Ukrainian Crimea peninsula, seized the entire territory, and annexed it after a fabricated referendum thus turning it into an enslaved land.

The invasion and occupation immediately violated numerous international covenants and the UN Charter. Russia’s belligerence has been condemned by the United States, Canada, Great Britain and other free world countries. Sanctions have been enacted and renewed against Russian leaders and oligarchs. The latest round, including travel restrictions and asset freezes against 150 people and 38 companies, would be extended until September 15, the European Council said.

Has Putin been swayed to change his ways? In reply to such a question, the Russian fuhrer basically said “hell, no.”

Putin declared in a two-hour documentary “Putin” aired on March 18 that under no circumstances would he give Crimea back to Ukraine.

“What, have you gone mad?” he told a journalist who asked him if there were any circumstances under which the Russian leader would be ready to give up Crimea.

“There are no such circumstances and never will be,” he declared obnoxiously.

As for liberal-minded Russians, unsuccessful presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak, who wanted to campaign during last weekend’s presidential campaign in occupied Crimea, said the Ukrainian peninsula remains a difficult problem for Russia and will have to be dealt with by the upcoming generation of Russians. However, since Russian youth favor Putin and his despotism, it would be folly to depend on that demographic for any resolution.

So much for liberal-minded Russians.

Despite President Trump’s tepid support for Ukraine, his cabinet remains committed to Ukraine and has asserted that sanctions will remain as long as Russian soldiers occupy the peninsula.

US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch said Washington will not recognize the Russian presidential elections in annexed Crimea.

“I think [it will be the same] as with all the elections in the Crimea…the way we treated these elections in the past is that we did not recognize them,” Yovanovitch said.

The State Department reaffirmed last week that the US continues to consider the Crimean peninsula as a part of Ukraine, not Russia.

Acting Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs and spokesperson Heather Nauert condemned a political rally Russian President Vladimir Putin held in Crimea where he claimed Crimea to be a part of Russia. Nauert blasted the 2014 referendum in Crimea as to whether the region should join Russia. The “staged referendum,” as Nauert called it, remains controversial as Russian troops were occupying the peninsula at the time and few international observers were present.

“In light of Putin’s remarks, it is important to call attention to the illegitimacy of the staged ‘referendum,’ but also to the tremendous human costs the Russian government has imposed on the people of Crimea,” Nauert said in a statement.

The Department official said during the past four years, Russia has engaged in a campaign of coercion and violence, targeting anyone opposed to its attempted annexation. She said Russian occupation authorities have subjected Crimean Tatars, ethnic Ukrainians, pro-Ukrainian activists, civil society members, and independent journalists to politically motivated prosecution and ongoing repression, while methodically suppressing nongovernmental organizations and independent media outlets.

The global wave of condemnation against Russia continues to grow. The EUObserver published a column titled “Four years on – but we will not forget illegally-occupied Crimea” written by eight foreign ministers, namely Anders Samuelsen of Denmark, Sven Mikser of Estonia, Edgars Rinkevics of Latvia, Linas Linkevicius of Lithuania, Jacek Czaputowicz of Poland, Teodor-Viorel Melescanu of Romania, Margot Wallstroem of Sweden, and Pavlo Klimkin of Ukraine.

“Four years ago, on March 18, 2014, Russia took the final step to illegally occupy Crimea, a part of Ukraine’s sovereign territory that Russia had recognized as such in several international treaties. The Russian takeover comprised a series of equally illegal actions: from using disguised Russian elite troops to the hasty organization – in breach of Ukrainian and international law – of an illegitimate ‘referendum,” they wrote.

On March 1, the Ukrainian parliament called on the UN Security Council and the General Assembly, as well as the OSCE, the European Union, NATO, international organizations, and foreign parliaments and governments, not to recognize the legitimacy of the Russian elections in the Crimea.

As for Putin’s so-called reelection, the United States and European countries have not yet congratulated the victor.

Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Nations Volodymyr Yelchenko in a letter to the UN Secretary-General, President of the Security Council and UN membership pointed out that Russian presidential elections in the occupied Crimea violate the UN Charter. The outcome of such illegal elections will be null and void, he said.

The issue of Russian aggression against Ukraine, be it in the Crimean peninsula or the eastern oblasts, remains to be addressed fully by the free world. Will it be content with ineffective but welcome condemnations and sanctions? Hopefully not. Procrastination will only give Russia time and opportunities to increase its military capabilities to expand its aggression against other regions.

The free world must also seriously take into consideration Moscow’s efforts to deploy nuclear weapons in Crimea. Deputy Head of Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Olena Zerkal has said Russia continues to upgrade military infrastructure in occupied Crimea to deploy nuclear weapons on the peninsula.

“We are seeing an accelerated pace of modernization in Crimea, which has already changed the balance of security in the region,” she said at a special meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in Crimea on March 15. “Russia has more than doubled its armed forces on the peninsula and is taking further steps to upgrade Crimean-based military infrastructure to deploy nuclear weapons.”

The free world, led by the United States, Canada, Great Britain and other likeminded countries, must increase efforts to isolate Russia for its unabashed aggression.

Two years ago The United Nations officially condemned Russia, a member of the UN Security Council, as an “occupier” of foreign lands just like Nazi Germany and other tyrannical empires were.

What is significant about this resolution is that while Ukraine, the United States and a few other countries favorably inclined toward Ukraine have condemned Russia for its illegal annexation of Crimea, the UN resolution casts a different light on this crime. Just like the albatross in “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” Russia, the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin have been publically stigmatized as global lawbreakers for current and future generations to see.

The international community must also appreciate that an occupier is a state that has crossed international frontiers without consideration of laws, invaded a foreign land, and willfully seized land that didn’t belong to it.

This resolution sends a clear message to Russia and Putin that as “occupying authorities” they are responsible for the persecutions and violations of the human rights of the residents of Crimea and will be brought to justice.

The free world is honor bound to take action to fix the situation. This resolution also gives it the basis upon which to further isolate Russia and ban it from global events until it changes it belligerence behavior.

Ukraine has appealed to the European Union to recognize the Russian Federation an aggressor state, strengthen Russia sanctions, and take up a key role in deploying a UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas, according to a draft by the Ukrainian side ahead of the EU Foreign Affairs Council scheduled for March 19 where the Ukraine issue will be on the agenda.

In the draft, which was presented to UNIAN and circulated in Brussels ahead of the EU foreign ministers’ meeting, Kyiv has proposed a number of proposals for the bloc in case Brussels is committed to strengthening its support for Ukraine to counter Russian aggression. After four years of Russian aggression against Ukraine, Kyiv expects that the EU “will recognize Russia as an aggressor country and an occupation power. The EU will significantly strengthen the restrictive measures of individual and economic nature against Russia, including preventing EU companies from cooperating with Russia in the military sphere. The EU sanctions should be leveled up to the US sanctions to form the integral transatlantic sanctions regime. They must be kept until sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine is fully restored, including Crimea.”

The only way, short of a joint military campaign, to force Russia into withdrawing from Crimea and Donbas and abandoning its campaign for global domination is for the free world unite behind Kyiv’s efforts to suspend commerce with it, expel all of its diplomats and businessmen and declare Moscow a pariah, outcast, and criminal country.

Otherwise, be prepared to encounter Russian troops on your doorsteps.