No one needs it: Ukrainians of Crimea were not even invited to the “Crimean Platform”

The leaders of the Regional Council of Ukrainians of Crimea, who declared their organization to represent the interests of Crimeans of Ukrainian nationality, were not invited to the Crimean Platform summit this year.

Moreover, in the final resolution of the summit there is not a word about the situation of Ukrainians in Crimea, who “suffer oppression” no less than the Crimean Tatars, the PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

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At a press conference in Kyiv, one of the founders of the Regional Council of Ukrainians of Crimea, Andrey Ivanets, complained that the Ukrainian authorities continue to ignore the problems of Crimeans of Ukrainian nationality and do not set government agencies the task of supporting them.

“The Ukrainian community is in a very difficult situation, and therefore a state policy is needed that at the strategic level would take into account the interests of protecting the Ukrainians of Crimea, and the fact that in the strategy for the deoccupation and reintegration of Crimea only once are the Ukrainians of Crimea mentioned and the tasks not assigned to government bodies about what structures to create, what to support, what policies to pursue - this is an indicator that the lack of attention to the problems of our community has not been overcome, and the “Crimean Platform”, from the point of view of protecting the rights of the Ukrainian community, has taken a step back in comparison with last year , when our representatives took part in the summit,” Ivanets emphasized. – Even international institutions, when considering the situation in Crimea, always remember the problems of the Ukrainian community in Crimea.

Because it is in a difficult situation, and in the Crimean Platform document there is not a single word about Ukrainians - this is a serious shortcoming in the policy of our state.”

Another co-founder of the “Regional Council of Ukrainians of Crimea”, editor of the newspaper “Crimean Svetlitsa”, known as one of the coordinators of the “Euromaidan-Crimea” movement, Andrey Shchekun, complained that for 31 years of independence, representatives of state authorities have not done anything for the Ukrainians of Crimea .

“This rhetorical question from year to year carries us into discussions and debates, but not into realistic actions on the part of government representatives,” Shchekun noted. “Unfortunately, in the 31st year of Ukraine’s independence, we must prove that there are Ukrainians in Crimea, and they are defending legitimate rights.”

First of all, according to activists of the Regional Rada, we are talking about recognizing August 28 as the Day of Protection of the Rights of the Ukrainian Community in Crimea. The presidential representative in the non-existent Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Tamila Tasheva, should take care of this. It should also include the Ukrainians of Crimea on the agenda of the second session of the “Crimean Platform” summit in Croatia on October 25.

“Today we have a strategy for the de-occupation and reintegration of Crimea, it has been approved, accepted, but, unfortunately, all the proposals that we made from the Regional Rada have not been accepted, as well as the plan of actions that we also proposed not accepted. We would like to pay attention to this and return to our proposals,” Shchekun said.

The co-founders of the association stated with regret that Russia spares no expense in supporting the Ukrainian organizations created in Crimea. Their representatives speak at international venues, publish periodicals in Ukrainian, hold forums, festivals and conventions. And all this to create the “appearance” of satisfaction with life in Crimea. At the same time, the Ukrainian authorities cannot hand over to believers the building of the cathedral of the UOC of the Kyiv Patriarchate in the center of Simferopol.

The first step towards state protection of Ukrainians in Crimea, in their opinion, should be the development of a separate law and the inclusion of measures to support the Ukrainian community in the strategy that was presented at the Crimean Platform summit this year.