President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that as part of the decree on the "de-occupation" of Crimea, he instructed the country's government to organize the work of the so-called "Crimean platform".

According to him, the first meeting of this format of negotiations should take place in Kiev on the eve of Independence Day (celebrated on August 24).

“Today I signed a decree on certain measures aimed at de-occupation and reintegration of the Crimean peninsula.

In particular, the government has been entrusted with organizing and launching the Crimean Platform, as well as measures to develop and support the Crimean Tatar language, culture and protection of the rights of residents of the annexed Crimea, ”Zelensky said.

According to him, the rights of Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars are allegedly regularly violated on the peninsula, freedom of speech, thought and religion is persecuted.

Moscow has repeatedly denied such statements.

At a briefing in November last year, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, recalled that Crimea became part of Russia voluntarily in strict accordance with international law.

According to her, in the field of human rights observance, the Russian Federation is committed to its international obligations, and the Ukrainian authorities have no idea about the real situation in Crimea.

Trying to get back into the political game

Kiev announced the upcoming launch of an international platform where the "issues" of Crimea would be discussed back in the summer of 2019.

Later, the Ukrainian authorities announced that they expect to hold the first meeting on February 26, 2021, on the Day of Resistance to the Occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol established by Zelensky.

However, the summit never took place.

As the director of the Ukrainian Institute for Analysis and Policy Management Ruslan Bortnik explained in a commentary to RT, now official Kiev expects that high-ranking foreign guests will not be able to refuse an invitation to visit Kiev on the eve of Independence Day celebrations.

In general, according to the expert, the creation of the "Crimean Platform" should be seen as an attempt by Ukraine "to return to the political game, to actualize itself and its goals."

  • Independence Square in the center of Kiev

  • Gettyimages.ru

“Of course, you shouldn't overestimate this tool.

The "Crimean Platform" will not radically affect the state of affairs.

Most likely, if this meeting takes place, it will become a platform for discussing possible sanctions against Russia, "Bortnik says.

However, from the point of view of the President of Ukraine, the work of the "Crimean Platform" allegedly will allow coordinating "international efforts to protect the rights of Crimeans and de-occupy the peninsula."

“I have already substantively discussed this initiative with representatives of the EU, Great Britain, Canada, Turkey and other partners.

Many of them are ready to join and take an active part in it, ”Zelensky said in October 2020 in his annual message to the Verkhovna Rada.

In December, the President of Ukraine called on representatives of the country's diplomatic corps to work more actively to attract foreign states to participate in the Crimean Platform, recalling that "this initiative has already been supported by our partners in Europe and North America."

In February, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and members of the European Parliament expressed their positive attitude to the "Crimean Platform".

In turn, the head of the White House, Joe Biden, said on February 26 that "the United States does not and will never recognize the so-called annexation of the peninsula by Russia."

According to him, Washington will continue to work on "holding Russia accountable for the aggression in Ukraine."

At the same time, at the moment, neither the State Department, nor the EU legislature have announced their readiness to take direct part in the work of the platform.

As experts predict, the question of the arrival of representatives of the EU, the United States and leading European states will remain open for several months.

Analysts do not rule out that Kiev will be able to gather delegations of Western states on August 23, but their composition is unlikely to be representative.

“A lot here will depend on Washington - relatively speaking, what training manual it will issue for its allies.

Biden, being the vice president of the United States, visited Ukraine many times, but so far he has not yet formed his attitude towards Kiev, especially after the corruption scandals around his son Hunter, "- said in an interview with RT the deputy dean of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs at the Higher School of Economics Andrey Suzdaltsev.

In turn, the expert of the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Research Volodymyr Bruter is sure that Ukrainian diplomacy will not be able to organize a meeting at the summit level.

In a conversation with RT, the analyst emphasized that the West is well aware of the impossibility of Crimea returning to Ukraine.

“Probably, the top Western leadership will still send someone to participate in the Crimean Platform, but this will not be a high-level meeting.

The US and the EU are not particularly interested in the question of ownership of the peninsula.

For them, Ukraine is a consumable, and anti-Russian rhetoric about Crimea is perceived as one of the tools to “contain” Russia, ”Bruter explained.

Fight for minds and hearts

In his video message, Zelensky also said that the Crimeans "it's time to go home."

“Dear Crimea!

All Ukraine is waiting for you.

"Welcome" is usually said to guests.

And they say to relatives: "We look forward to home."

Dear Crimeans!

It's time to go home.

We wait.

We believe.

We love.

People of Ukraine, ”the President of Ukraine said.

According to experts, with the coming to power of Zelensky, Kiev launched a number of initiatives aimed at fighting for the hearts and minds of residents of the uncontrolled territories.

  • Postcard in honor of the reunification of Crimea with Russia

  • RIA News

  • © Taras Litvinenko

One of them is the National Platform for Reconciliation and Unity, which is supervised by Serhiy Sivokho, who previously held the position of Advisor to the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC).

The project involves the creation of a platform for dialogue between Kiev and residents of the uncontrolled regions of Donbass.

However, in March 2020, nationalists attacked Sivokho at the presentation of this initiative.

After that, he lost his position in the National Security and Defense Council, and the National Platform for Reconciliation and Unity was not marked by any large-scale events aimed at establishing a dialogue with the population of the DPR and LPR.

Another initiative of Kiev was the launch of the broadcasting of the Dom TV channel on March 1, 2020.

This media was given the task of "returning the political and cultural life of Ukraine to the agenda" of people in the uncontrolled territories.

However, judging by the modest views on the channel's YouTube page, Dom's content is not in high demand.

Experts explain the futility of projects to improve the image of modern Ukraine by the reluctance of the authorities to return the territories and population, lost after the coup d'etat of 2014, and the population, which is disloyal to official Kiev.

“Now the task is not to return these territories.

The Ukrainian government itself is doing everything to prevent these people from returning.

It isolates these territories as much as possible.

The task is to use this problem only as an additional lever of pressure on Russia, ”says Bortnik.

It should be noted that in the near future, against the population of the uncontrolled regions, Kiev may introduce a system of tough sanctions under the pretext of fighting against citizens who, in one form or another, interacted with the “occupation authorities” and the “aggressor state”, and also did not recognize Ukraine's sovereignty over "Temporarily occupied territories".

The corresponding amendments to the legislation, submitted for consideration by the deputies from the Servant of the People party, were registered in the Rada this week.

Bills numbered 5143 and 5144 provide for various types of punishment for "collaborators", up to and including imprisonment.

“Kiev does not need people living in uncontrolled territories.

With such initiatives, the Ukrainian authorities practically make it clear that the population, if it returns to Kiev's control, will be subject to repression.

I think that if Ukraine needs these territories, then definitely without people, ”said Andrey Suzdaltsev.

The expert recalled that the Minsk agreements provide for a general amnesty even for participants in hostilities against the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

But under Zelensky, Kiev continued the course of revising the agreements, thus pushing away from itself the population, which, when fulfilling the political part, should be reintegrated into Ukraine.

“Kiev's policy is not aimed at civil reconciliation and taking into account the views of the residents of Donbass.

In principle, they themselves, I think, perfectly understand what an unenviable fate awaits them as part of Ukraine, where Zelensky is so actively calling them, "summed up Suzdaltsev.