7 year ago, the Russian armed aggression against Ukraine unfolded, bringing numerous human losses, temporary occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol and certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The Russian Federation further tightens its grip over Crimea through attempted annexation as well as oppressions against dissent and minorities in the peninsula.

Despite numerous initiatives of Ukraine aimed at the peaceful resolution of the conflict, the Russian armed aggression is ongoing and current trends of the situation in the temporary occupied territories can be generally characterized as deterioration in all areas.

RUSSIAN OCCUPATION AUTHORITIES CONDUCT OPPRESSIVE POLICY AGAINST CRIMEAN TATAR AND UKRAINIAN COMMUNITIES IN CRIMEA, VIOLATING POLITICAL, CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS RIGHTS WHICH AMOUNTS TO RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

• Russia is brutally violating the political rights of the Crimean Tatars, the indigenous people of Crimea. Since 2016, the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people remained banned, despite the Order of the International Court of Justice and numerous UNGA resolutions on the human rights situation in the occupied Crimea.
• About 100 citizens of Ukraine remain illegally detained under politically motivated charges in Crimea and Russia. Most of them are Crimean Tatars. According to human rights defenders, 177 children of illegally detained human rights activists and citizen journalists are growing up without their fathers care and 25 of them have serious stress-related medical problems.
• Russia is suppressing the religious freedom in Crimea. After the occupation, 1300 religious organizations in the Crimea were banned. In 2020, the OCU was evicted from its main Cathedral in Simferopol for a 2,95 UAH (0,09 EUR) debt; the occupational administration has ordered the demolition of the temple of the OCU in Yevpatoriia.

RUSSIA SERIOUSLY VIOLATES NORMS OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW, CHANGING THE DEMOGRAPHIC COMPOSITION OF LOCAL POPULATION, FORCIBLY DRAFTING UKRAINIAN CITIZENS IN CRIMEA INTO ITS ARMED FORCES, FORCING THE APPLICATION OF ITS LEGISLATION

• The Russian Federation pursues the forcible demographic change. According to the official data, since 2014 almost 48,000 Ukrainian citizens had to leave Crimea. According to different estimates, the number of Russian citizens that moved from Russia to the peninsula amounts up to 500,000. Only in 2020 over the course of 9 months at least 43,000 Russian citizens relocated to Crimea. The actual number is much higher.
• The Russian Federation has already conducted 11 illegal conscription campaigns on the peninsula. Since the beginning of the occupation, the number of persons conscripted into the Russian armed forces has already reached about 28,000.
• Under the pretext of the COVID-19 epidemic, Russia is artificially restricting the freedom of movement of Crimean residents and their contacts with mainland Ukraine. Crimean residents who have been forcibly issued Russian passports are allowed to leave for mainland Ukraine and return to the peninsula only once. For those citizens who have refused to obtain a Russian passport, only departure from the Crimea is possible, but return is prohibited.
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MILITARIZATION OF CRIMEA, BLACK AND AZOV SEAS BY THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION ENDANGERS THE BLACK SEA REGION, MIDDLE EAST AND MEDITERRANEAN, DESTROYS ENVIRONMENT AND HAMPERS THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE BLACK SEA LITTORAL STATES

• Russia continues to transform Crimea and surrounding waters into its military outpost in the Azov-Black Sea region. Comparing to the pre-occupation period, Russia has more than doubled personal strength of its military in the peninsula, from 12.500 to over 32.500 persons. This military contingent also includes 410 armoured vehicles, more than 195 tanks, 283 MLRS and artillery systems, 50 helicopters and 100 airplanes of different types.
• During the occupation of Crimea, the Russian Federation prepared Crimean military infrastructure on the peninsula for the deployment of nuclear weapons, including refurbishment of the infrastructure of Soviet-era nuclear warheads storage facilities. Potential carriers of nuclear weapons, such as warships, short-range missile systems and combat aircraft, have been already deployed there.
• While turning Crimea into a large military base, the Russian occupation administration is destroying the natural and cultural heritage of the peninsula. The conservation status of 40 objects of the natural reserve fund was illegally downgraded. In particular, the territory of the Crimean Nature Reserve was reduced by 89,5 hectares; the territory of the Yalta Mountain-Forest Nature Reserve was reduced by 63,5 hectares. Due to the construction of the «Tavrida» highway 110 000 trees were cut down (including protected species of Crimean pine and juniper).
• Social and economic destabilization of Ukraine`s coastal regions remains among the goals of the Russian aggression against Ukraine. According to the preliminary estimates, in the period from 2014 to 2020, companies operating in the ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk lost revenues of more than 6 billion UAH due to the Russian restrictions. This amount does not include losses and additional costs related to ship downtime and reorientation of cargo flows.

TO REVERT THESE TRENDS, MORE COORDINATED AND PERSISTENT EFFORTS OF INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY ARE NEEDED, PROTECTING RULES-BASED ORDER, AND ENABLING DE-OCCUPATION OF CRIMEA BY PEACEFUL MEANS

• In order to enhance and broaden the response to the occupation Crimea and other related breaches of international law by the Russian Federation Ukraine has initiated establishment of the Crimean platform. The inaugural Summit of the Crimean Platform is expected to be held in Kyiv on 23 August 2021.