When Ukraine and Russia meet in Istanbul, they are asked whether cooperation could bring about any progress, let alone peace agreements.
While Russia appears to maintain the maximalist demands that are considered unrealistic not only in Kiev but also outside of Ukraine, one of Kiev’s main goals was to prove to the US administration that Kiev is not the main obstacle to a ceasefire.
However, there is one topic that Kiev and Moscow never agree to, but for both sides, this is most important – Crimea.
Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Vladimir Putin, who leads the Russian delegation, is considered to be one of the key ideologies of Russia’s full-scale invasion and the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Olha Krishko, the Ukrainian president’s permanent representative for Crimea, told Euroneuz that Moscow’s lineup could serve as evidence of “the continuation of the policies the Russian Federation has been pursuing for a long time.”
“Many politicians currently in power in Russia are supporting and contributing in every possible way to the temporary occupation of Crimea as well as other territories,” Krishko told Brussels. She is taking part in the European Parliament’s first Crimea Week.
She said that it was very important that Europe has reliability and consistency in supporting Ukraine for 11 years, and that since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, Crimean residents have lived more difficult and dangerous lives.
They often endanger their health and live in any form of resistance, but they need to see Europe watching and supporting their fight.
“Resistance is always two-way communication,” she says, explaining that when Crimean people demonstrate resistance, they send not only to Ukraine, but also to Kiev’s international partners, who they want to be part of Ukraine.
“It shows that they are ready to resist, that they don’t want this profession. Even this act of resistance could be a one-way ticket for them,” says Kuryshko.
And this is why Ukraine needs more support, she says, “When Kiev became more aggressive and aggressive towards Russian military facilities in occupied Crimea, we saw resistance was increasing.
“Unfortunately, if Ukraine is not capable of such aggressive military action, we should not expect resistance to be at the same level.
“Colonization” of Crimea in Russia
Ukrainian President Voldimi Zelenki appointed the head of the delegation of the Istanbul Conference, and his choices send a loud and clear signal.
Zelensky’s Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov is of Tatar origin in Crimea.
He was born in exile in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, after Soviet authorities uprooted and deported 200,000 Crimean Tatars from the peninsula.
Shortly after Soviet authorities launched a massive campaign to abolish Crimea, they tried to completely change the image and history of the peninsula.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Umerov and his family eventually returned to Crimea in 1991.
Kuryshko told Euronows that what Russia is doing in Crimea is “colonization,” and this is not the first time.
“This is not the first occupation of Crimea, nor the first colonization,” says Krishko. It uncovers one of Russia’s biggest disinformation campaigns.
Moscow will make it impossible for Ukrainian citizens to live in Ukrainian territory and instead force them to make Russian citizens deliberately reside in the area, she explained, “Russia will turn this upside down and says that the Crimean population is composed primarily of Russians,” Kuryshko added.
The 11-year occupation is a very long time, she admits.
“Imagine an 11-year-old child. This is a grown-up child. Imagine this child grew up in Crimea and knows Crimea, which is occupied by Russia. Even on mainland Ukraine there are children who didn’t know Crimea before Russian occupation,” Kuryshko said.
Kuryshko is sure that Russia will ultimately hold it, as Russia “has invested a lot in temporary occupied territory.”
She explains that after the first invasion of Ukraine, Russia has implemented and expanded the 2014 technique faster since the start of a full-scale invasion in 2022.
“Reforming the education system, Russian textbooks, forced passporting – this was all already happening, and it happened quickly because Russia was prepared, practicing and training in the territory that had previously been occupied,” Kuryshko concluded.
Sunday, May 18th marks the tragic anniversary of the first hierarchy of the Crimean Tatar, forcibly sent from the peninsula to Central Asia.
The Ukrainian Parliament is asking foreign governments and parliaments to recognize the 1944 deportation of the Crimean Tatar by Soviet authorities as an act of genocide.
