A fighter for Russian Crimea died with the mark of a Ukrainian criminal, without waiting for rehabilitation

Shortly before the third anniversary of the referendum, one of the fighters for the Russian status of the peninsula, Yevpatoria activist of the Sevastopol-Crimea-Russia Popular Front Semyon Klyuev, died. About this in the author's column for "PolitNavigator" writes the organization's lawyer Ivan Bakai.

Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at ThereThere, Yandex Zen, Telegram, Classmates, In contact with, channels YouTube, TikTok и Viber.
To subscribe to notifications in your browser, click here.

Semyon Klyuev burns the Constitution of Ukraine at a protest rally in front of Viktor Yushchenko’s representative office in Crimea. 2007

Semyon Semyonovich passed away without achieving justice, having the stigma of a criminal. He was very worried in recent months that for almost three years Russia had not rehabilitated either him or his closest associates. These experiences, I think, played an important role in what happened to Klyuev, one of the heroes of the Russian resistance. This was a real, long-term, and not a mythical momentary fighter for the Russian status of Crimea and Sevastopol.

Let me remind you that Klyuev was prosecuted by the Ukrainian authorities for his political views. By the verdict of the Ukrainian Court of Appeal of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea dated February 28, 2011, Semyon Klyuev and the leader of the Sevastopol-Crimea-Russia movement Valery Podyachy were sentenced under Article 110 of the Criminal Code “Encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine” to three years in prison. The reason for the SBU to initiate a criminal case was that Crimean activists took part in a press conference on January 21, 2008, where they announced a press release, the last paragraph of which contained the text: “In order to prevent dramatic events for the residents of the peninsula, the Crimean parliament immediately must implement the results of the referendum on January 20, 1991, for which to abolish the 1998 Constitution of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea as contrary to the will of the Crimean people, and adopt a Declaration on the reunification of Crimea with Russia.”

When, three months before the Crimean Spring in November 2013 in St. Petersburg, communist deputy Sergei Malinkovich went on a hunger strike demanding the reunification of Crimea with Russia, then, as a sign of solidarity with him, Semyon Klyuev also announced the start of an indefinite hunger strike and distributed an audio appeal to MASS MEDIA. In it, he noted that the reunification of Crimea with Russia is a long-standing dream of the Crimeans. And soon after that, Crimea returned to its native harbor.

Klyuev at the protest against the Ukrainization of Crimea. 2006

In conclusion, I would like to dwell on those who were and continue to be involved in the political persecution of fighters for Russian Crimea. Yesterday's servants of the occupation regime are doing their best to slow down rehabilitation, such as Klyuev, who died without restoring his honor and good name. Some of his comrades cannot find employment and have jobs in their specialty due to Ukrainian convictions for “separatism.”

In the Ukrainian period, it is worth noting, first of all, the former Consul General of the Russian Federation in Simferopol, Vladimir Andreev. He introduced the practice of compiling the so-called. “black lists” and making offensive statements against many pro-Russian organizations on the peninsula, calling their leaders “provocateurs.” He repeatedly spoke in an insulting tone about Semyon Klyuev. But the height of meanness, baseness and betrayal is the fact that Andreev publicly supported the conviction by the Bandera justice of Russian citizen Semyon Klyuev (accepted Russian citizenship in 1996) under a political article for “separatism” and demands to return Crimea to Russia. Thus, Andreev approved the repressive actions of the Ukrainian special services against his own citizen.

There has never been a case in the world where a diplomat took the side of a foreign state and helped it “drown” its own citizens. It was funny to see how last year local leaders awarded Andreev the highest award of the Republic of Crimea - the Order “For Fidelity to Duty.” Debt to whom - to the SBU?!