We are Ukraine. We are a republic with a presidential – parliamentary system of government and our Constitution constitution provides for a directly elected president, a prime minister who is appointed by the president and confirmed by the parliament, and a unicameral parliament. We are an independent nation, with our own legislation and organization. We are a country that respects the integrity of the individual, his/her civil rights and liberties, his/her political rights and we do not discriminate against people with disabilities or against national/ethnic/racial minorities. We are a peaceful state that prohibits and punishes violence, that does not tolerate corruption and protects its citizens from torture, degrading treatment and deprivation of life (Ukraine Executive Summary, 1-44).
Our country has had a long history with Russia and we have suffered under Russian rule for many years. We have beenwere part of the Russian Empire for centuries and even after the fall of the USSR, we continued to be closely aligned as two separate independent states. (Council on Foreign Relations, 2014). Russia’s association with Crimea goes back to the Russian Empire under Catherine the Great in 1783. Russia has strived to annex Crimea since the 1780’s. Grigory Potemkin had told Catherine the Great ““Now just imagine that the Crimea is yours…Believe me you will acquire immortal fame such as no other sovereign of Russia ever had. This glory will open the way to still further and greater glory…” (Michel, 2015). In 1939, the imposition of Holodomor, “murder by hunger” was instigated by the then head of State state Stalin in order to exterminate us. (Lourie, 138). For all the bad blood between Moscow and Kiev, in 1954, to mark the three hundredth anniversary of the Union union of Ukraine and Russia, Nikita Khrushchev gifted Crimea to us. However, just to be on the safe side, Sevastopol, where the Black Sea Fleet was stationed, would remain under the control of the city of Moscow. (Lourie, 139). Gradually Crimea’s economy started booming, resorts and in turn tourism developed rapidly as did heavy industry and agriculture. After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Ukraine gained tis its independence and within Ukraine, Crimea became an autonomous republic. In 2013, our former President Yanukovych rejected refused to sign the accession agreement with the EU, which led to an internal protest. Our prime minister, Mykola Azarov, described a $15bn aid package from Russia as a historic deal to allow the ex-Soviet republic return to economic growth. Had it not been for President Putin interfering, the uprising would have been avoided. (Walker 1) In 2014, your presidentRussia forcefully annexed Crimea, taking advantage of the already existing crisis. (Timeline of Crimean History, 2017).
Your government has committed several violations according to international law. By annexing Crimea, you have violated the UN charter. Under Article article 2 of the Chartercharter, all states are obliged to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any Statestate, and to settle their international disputes by peaceful means. The rResolution 2625 of 24 October 1970, approved the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly relations and cooperation among states in accordance with the charter of the UN and reaffirming the principles contained therein that the territory of a state shall not be the object of acquisition by another State resulting from the threat or use of force. You have violated the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, signed in Helsinki in 1975. (United Nations 1) You have violated the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, along with the established principles of world order such as sovereignty and nonintervention. One of the fundamental requirements of the legality of each plebiscite in your legal literature is the withdrawal of foreign troops from the “self determining territory” (Merezehko, 57). By annexing Crimea, you have violated the 1997 Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation which requires your government to respect our regional integrity. You have contradicted yourselves and by doing so you have violated the principle of estoppel which obliges states not to contradict themselves. (Merezhko, 175)
Your president’s two main arguments are that, firstly, he had to intervene in order to protect nationals abroad and the Russian-speaking population and, secondly, that he intervened upon invitation as former President Yanukovych “invited “ him to do so – at the time however, President Yanukovych had been ousted by our parliament. (Marxsen 372, 374) Our government responds to the above claims as follows: To begin with, the referendum was illegal under the Ukrainian constitution. Article 2 of our constitution establishes that “Ukraine shall be a unitary state” and that the “territory of Ukraine within is present border is indivisible and inviolable”. Thus, Crimea does not have the right of determining whether to join the Russian Federation or remain within Ukraine. What is more, evidence suggests that the referendum process was backed up by Russian troops in Crimea, thus the declaration of independence cannot be regarded in isolation of this illegality. The ICJ argues that “the illegality attached to the declarations of independence thus stemmed not only from the unilateral character of these declarations but from the fact that there was use of force and violations of international law, in particular those of a peremptory character” (Marxsen 384). Thirdly, the concept of self-determination may not be used to disaggregate the territory of existing nation-states and there is no right to secession (Marxsen 385, 389). You have taken advantage of our economic and social/political crisis and have forcefully embedded Crimea into your country.
Besides the annexation of Crimea, Russia has been responsible for further crimes against our population. Over 6,500 people have been killed and at least 1.4. million Ukrainians have been internally displaced. The argument that the ongoing war is a civil war in which rebels are fighting the government is not true. This conflict is not only a result of identity clashes, language differences and historical grievances. It is in large part due to the Russian Federation’s aggression. The violence used by Russia is a threat to our population’s collective security. We do acknowledge that we have had internal political disputes but the conflict was initiated by Russia’s armed intervention. Your President has even admitted, that Russian troops seized Crimea. (Finnin and Grant, 2) The war in the Eastern part of our country is not going to end as long as Russia does not stop intervening. What began as an internal protest against our government under former president Yanukovych who rejected to sign the accession agreement with the EU, was externalized and became a conflict between tow independent states only because Russian troops placed in our country staged war against our own sovereign population. President Putin’s excuse that these people are stationed in our country to protect Russian origin ethnic minorities is unacceptable. Igor Girkin-Strelkov, a Russian national associated with Russian military intelligence who helped lead the “rebel” movement in eastern Ukraine, states “You are making an idiot or fool of yourself if you think that the Donetsk and Luhansk Peoples’ Republic were formed by themselves.”(Finnin and Grant, 3). This ongoing war is a war of self defense against an international aggressor and not a civil war.(Finnin and Grant, 2).
Crimea was given to us in 1954 in order to make Ukraine less Ukrainian through the dilution of our homogeneity by a significant Russian ethnic origin minority. Today Crimea is an indispensable part of our nation and the people that compose its population, irrespective of their ethnic origin, are Ukrainian citizens. (Wilson, 99) What we want is to get Crimea back. Our objective is to create and maintain a safe and secure environment within our country for all its citizens, irrespective of their ethnicity. Russia’s imperial ambitions stand on gas money and propaganda and these ambitions have become anachronistic. As a democratic nation we respect all others but need to preserve our independence. We are obliged to defend ourselves from foreign aggression, military or other. In accordance with international law, the return of Crimea must become the subject of a Ukrainian-Russian Treaty. Our side is ready to guarantee Crimea’s right to be considered and recognized by our constitution as an autonomously governed region. (Marynovych, 2017). Prior to the crisis, Crimea was an autonomous republic of Ukraine, it had its own parliament and laws. Following the referendum, Russian legislators passed a resolution nullifying Ukrainian laws and putting in force Russian legislation (Council on Foreign Relations, 2014). Crimeans have been struggling for independence and the autonomy within Ukraine could be seen as an achievement and a step towards possible future independence. However, now, it seems that they have lost this possibility yet again as there is no legal procedure to dismember the Russian federation. (Tatarenko, 2014). We are willing to negotiate and compromise in granting additional autonomy to Crimea. We are willing to do so peacefully, certainly not under the threat of nuclear use by Russia. Our Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsa believes “there are signs of hope”. We have been working with other countries on setting up a “contact group” and we have made direct appeals to the Russian leadership but so far you have not responded. We sincerely hope that you will consider our ideas.
During his victory speech in March 2014, Putin said “Crimea is our common historical legacy and a very important factor in regional stability. And this strategic territory should be part of a strong and stable sovereignty, which today can only be Russian”. We are a stable sovereignty too, and our strength should not be underestimated. (Wilson 33). Putin needs to understand that we are a country, not a county as he has mentioned throughout his presidency. He also needs to understand that we do not live in the period of Catherine the Great and that his obsession with imperialism cannot not be tolerated. We understand that president Putin is trying to make us join the Eurasian Union. (Petro, 70) However, his violent actions make us turn to Europe for protection. The last thing we want is to be caught in between a Russia-US conflict. Let us remind you that at the 2008 NATO Summit in Bucharest your President, speaking to then President Bush said “You have to understand George, Ukraine isn’t even a real country.” Pleas keep in mind, our country is not a joke. We will not tolerate oppression, invasion, nuclear threats and international law violations (Lourie 127). Your country has more than enough enemies, we want to remain neutral. We have always been torn between the EU and your country. For the EU, we are a potential candidate for future accession; a candidate for closer political and economic cooperation. We understand that your country fears for its political influence in Eastern Europe and that you defy the remaining neutral states becoming part of NATO and the EU. You have a key interest in our territory since Crimea provides the access for the Black Sea Fleet. (Marxsen, 368) You may have temporarily won Crimea but you have lost the Ukraine. (Mankoff, 2014) You have bolstered Ukrainian nationalism and pushed us closer to Europe, while causing other post-Soviet states to question the wisdom of a close alignment with Moscow (Mankoff, 2014). Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova are examples that your actions are moving us westward directly in reaction to Russian meddling. You are risking destroying your once close relationship with us, your international reputation and your plan to draw the ex-Soviet states back together. (Mankoff, 2014). We urge you to cooperate with our government.