The discussion “Closed Peninsula: Human Rights, Russia’s militarization and security policy in Crimea after the annexation” took place today in Berlin at the German Council on Foreign Relations (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswaertige Politik).
Olga Skrypnyk, head of the Crimean Human Rights Group, Refat Chubarov, chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, MP of Ukraine, Pavel Felgenhauer, an expert on security and defence policy of Russia, a journalist of the “Novaya Gazeta” newspaper (Moscow) took part in the discussion.
The discussion dealt with the problems of human rights violations against the citizens of Ukraine, ethnic and religious groups. It also dealt with the problems of militarization of the peninsula and the establishment of a major Russian military base in Crimea.
Olga Skrypnyk described the main tendencies in the field of human rights in Crimea, which is constantly worsening. She put emphasis on the last resonant cases of persecution of journalists – conducting searches on 19 April and on the prohibition of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, which will lead to a new wave of criminal and administrative persecution.
Refat Chubarov has paid attention to the political and economic mechanisms that should be used at the international level to reduce the levels of repression in Crimea.
Pavel Felgenhauer mentioned that the establishment of Russian control in Crimea is a Russian military operation, which, in his opinion, has been preparing since 2004. Regarding the issue of the militarization of the peninsula, he began his analysis by saying: “Russia – is not a country with an army, it is an army with a country”.
