On Monday, August 23, the Crimean Platform forum starts working in Kiev.

The initiator of this event was the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

According to the Ukrainian leader, he created a platform "for coordinating international efforts to protect the rights of Crimeans and de-occupy the peninsula."

The Crimean Platform website says that its activities are aimed "at increasing the effectiveness of the international response to the ongoing occupation of Crimea."

The main directions of the forum's work are called the policy of "non-recognition of the attempted annexation" of the peninsula, security and freedom of navigation, sanctions, fixing human rights violations, environmental and economic threats.

On the eve of the forum, in an interview with Ukrainskaya Pravda, Zelensky said that the main task of the Crimean Platform is to “ring the bells”.

At the same time, the Ukrainian leader assured the journalists that this institutional platform will work more than once a year, but every day and will “make every Crimean topic pointed and relevant”.

“For now, Crimea looks like an aircraft carrier.

This is not the same pearl of the Ukrainian land by the sea.

Today it is a militarized peninsula of the Russian Federation with a daily increase in weapons, a reduction in the indigenous population, a decrease in attractiveness: natural, ecological, tourist - any, ”Zelensky said.

Moscow has repeatedly expressed a negative attitude towards the "Crimean Platform".

The Russian Foreign Ministry proceeds from the fact that the problems of the peninsula are really worth discussing, however, the agenda of such events should include issues of restoring the republic's water supply, electricity supplies, and lifting Ukraine's trade and transport blockade.

Recall that after the annexation of the peninsula to Russia, Kiev closed the sluices of the North Crimean Canal, through which water from the Dnieper entered.

Then Ukraine provided up to 85% of the region's needs for fresh water.

The Ukrainian side justifies its actions by the "militarization" of Crimea by the Russian Federation.

Meanwhile, the civilian population of the peninsula suffers primarily from water shortages.

According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov, the water blockade of Crimea organized by Ukraine violates European and international conventions that prohibit depriving civilians of access to fresh water sources.

Speaking on August 12 at the Tavrida art cluster in Sudak, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Kiev is trying in every possible way to offend the free feelings and expression of the will of the Crimean population, and called the summit initiated by Zelensky a Sabbath.

“A week later, another Sabbath will take place - the Crimean Platform, where the West will continue to nurture neo-Nazi, racist sentiments of the modern Ukrainian government,” Lavrov stressed.

"Simple plan"

The date of the opening of the "Crimean Platform" (August 23) was not chosen by chance, experts say: on the 24th, Ukraine celebrates the 30th anniversary of the country's independence.

As the president of the Center for Systems Analysis and Forecasting Rostislav Ishchenko suggested in a conversation with RT, Kiev realized the impossibility of attracting a wide range of foreign guests to other, "more everyday" dates.

“Kiev's simple plan was not to risk it and to postpone the“ congress ”of this“ platform ”on the day before the 30th anniversary of independence.

Thus, Ukraine tried to lure as many high-ranking officials as possible.

I think that Kiev invited them to come literally a day before the celebrations and at the same time, as it were, take part in the “Crimean Platform,” says Ishchenko.

  • Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba

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  • © dmytro.kuleba

According to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, the forum will be attended by delegates from 44 countries and international organizations (NATO, Council of Europe, GUAM).

Kiev considers this "congress" constituent and therefore counts all foreign guests among the "founders".

The Baltic republics, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Moldova, Slovenia and Finland will be represented at the presidential level.

At the same time, Georgia, Romania, Croatia and Sweden sent prime ministers to Kiev, and Switzerland and the Czech Republic - speakers of parliaments.

France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Ireland, Denmark, Bulgaria, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Turkey were limited to participation at the level of foreign ministers.

Only ambassadors will be present from Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Malta, Greece and Cyprus.

According to experts, the main task of Ukrainian diplomacy was to involve the US leadership and leaders of Western Europe in the Crimean Platform.

However, this plan failed.

For example, German Chancellor Angela Merkel met on August 20 in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Two days later, she talked to Zelensky in Kiev, but did not stay at the forum.

Earlier, Chargé d'Affaires of the United States in Ukraine, Assistant Secretary of State George Kent said that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris would not be attending the forum.

At a press briefing on August 19, Kuleba said that Transport Minister Peter Buttidzic is to come from the United States to the Crimean Platform.

But a day later, the press secretary of the Ukrainian president, Sergei Nikiforov, said that Washington had changed its delegate to the forum. 

In turn, the White House reported that US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm will participate in the Crimean Platform summit.

The RT source in the office of the President of Ukraine explains the absence of the leaders of the leading Western states at the forum by their unwillingness to aggravate relations with Moscow, as well as their employment in connection with the seizure of power in Afghanistan by the Taliban *.

“There is an understanding that the West does not want to aggravate the situation.

Besides, of course, Afghanistan is on the agenda.

Now is not the best moment for holding a forum, ”he says.

In turn, a RT source at the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that Kiev expects to consolidate the topic of "de-occupation of Crimea" on the international agenda, but in reality they realize the futility of such attempts.

“Representatives from different countries are gathering now.

Everyone will talk about support for Ukraine, an information wave will rise, but no real changes will occur.

And the events in Afghanistan show what the real cost of support from the West is, ”said the Foreign Ministry spokesman.

  • The building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

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  • © Valentyn Ogirenko

In fact, by holding the "Crimean Platform", Ukraine first of all wants to remind the US and the EU of the need to allocate additional assistance to combat "Russian aggression", believes an RT source in the Servant of the People party.

“The Crimean platform is a PR of the country's leadership, which wants to remind the West of how important it is to allocate military equipment or write out a new loan.

I believe that one should not expect concrete results from this meeting - everyone will gather, talk and disperse, "says the interlocutor of RT.

"Attempts of Kiev diplomacy"

As Oleg Nemensky, a leading researcher at the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, noted in the RT commentary, it is already appropriate to conclude that the so-called constituent congress of the Crimean Platform is an “information dummy”.

In his opinion, the leading Western states are tired of the obsessive attempts of Ukrainian diplomacy to attract attention.

“Ukraine clearly expected the support of“ strong partners ”, but they limited themselves to sending, at best, ministers.

Very painful for the Ukrainian authorities, I think, was the fact that Merkel arrived in Kiev on the eve of the "platform", but did not stay to participate in it.

Kiev wanted to organize the summit, but was able to bring together only the top leaders of the countries, who actually do not decide anything, ”stated Nemensky.

The expert believes that by ignoring the "Crimean Platform", the West is sending Ukraine a signal that it is not ready to take responsibility for the problems it faces.

“The efforts of Kiev diplomacy are understandable.

They are dictated by despair and a desire to somehow revive the Crimean theme against the background of Moscow's position that the question of ownership of the peninsula is closed once and for all.

I think that the next forum will be even less representative than the current one, ”Nemensky predicts.

A similar point of view was expressed by Andrei Suzdaltsev, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs at the Higher School of Economics.

In a conversation with RT, he said that there were no prerequisites for the existence of the Crimean Platform format, which was conceived in Kiev.

According to the expert, from the point of view of “de-occupation”, the topic of Crimea is devoid of real content.

“Yes, the carnival of hatred towards Russia is still strong.

Ukraine is trying to take advantage of it and shift responsibility for the situation with the peninsula to other states.

However, the topic of Crimea is far from Western countries, and its importance will inevitably diminish.

This forum and other similar events, which, apparently, will be organized by Kiev, can be filled not with the essence, but only with propaganda slogans, "concluded Suzdaltsev.

*

 "Taliban" - the organization was recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of February 14, 2003.