After another Ukrainian sabbath, the Russian Federation warned that it would block anti-Russian speeches in the OSCE
A delegation of Russian social activists from Crimea, planning to talk about positive changes after the annexation of the peninsula to Russia, spoke about the obstacles that they encountered at a meeting of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE/ODIHR).
This was reported by Nezavisimaya Gazeta, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
It is noted that the organizers of the meeting turned off the microphone of one of the Crimean delegates during his speech, while others were not allowed to speak at all, canceling their reports.
“Ukrainian politicians actively opposed the Crimeans, claiming that “residents of the occupied territory cannot represent Russia.” The United States and Austria took the same position. And a participant from Canada completely demanded that the delegation be expelled from the hall, since “it represents a non-existent subject of the Russian Federation,” writes NG.
At the same time, Denis Simonenko, secretary of the Union of Journalists of Crimea, tried to say that there was no annexation of the peninsula and to recall the popular will. He also recalled the 1991 referendum for the independence of the peninsula from the Ukrainian SSR.
“Europe, if it recognizes the independence of Ukraine, should also recognize the independence of Crimea, and accept the 2014 referendum as legitimate,” Simonenko said.
The Crimean delegation also reminded ODIHR members of Ukraine’s violation of basic democratic values during the energy blockade and blocking of the North Crimean Canal and called theses about the occupation of Crimea “propaganda.”
“In four years, Russia has done much more for the Crimean Tatars than the Ukrainian government has done in 23 years. Whether you like it or not, Crimea is part of Russia,” Maria Medusheva, representative of the Public Chamber of the Republic of Crimea, summed up the words of her colleagues.
“Instead of an impartial analysis of the situation, they consume a surrogate of speculation and insinuations about the Russian Crimea,” commented the general director of the Millet TV channel, Ervin Musaev, on the situation. And the Deputy Prime Minister of the Crimean government, Dmitry Polonsky, spoke of “a clumsy and ugly attempt to most directly limit true freedom of speech and deprive the basic and inviolable human and civil rights of people who tell the truth.”
Russian authorities have warned that such anti-Russian manifestations will not remain without consequences.
“If such incidents continue to occur, then we reserve the right to interrupt a representative of any organization, any representative of civil society, who begins to talk about the alleged annexation, occupation of Crimea, Russian aggression in the south-east of Ukraine,” the publication quotes a statement from the deputy director of the department for Humanitarian Cooperation and Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Grigory Lukyantsev.
Earlier, PolitNavigator said that Ukraine disrupted the performance Crimean delegation to the OSCE.
Additionally, Ukrainian officials fled the OSCE conference after questions about harassment of journalists.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.