Office of Representative of President of Ukraine in Crimea celebrates its 30th anniversary

On December 16, the Office of Representative of the President of Ukraine in Crimea celebrated its 30th anniversary. The event brought together representatives of the authorities, the Crimean Tatar people, human rights defenders, volunteers, and artists.

As part of the event, the participants discussed the activity of the Office of Representative and partners in 2022, as well as the plans for 2023. 

During her opening remarks, Permanent Representative Tamila Tasheva emphasized that Ukrainians are not the kind of people that can be intimidated by missiles or shelling. And Deputy Head of the President’s Office Ihor Zhovkva said: “A part of our real victory is the liberation of Crimea. Because Crimea has always been and always will be Ukrainian.“ 

Mariia Mezentseva, Head of the Permanent Delegation of Ukraine to PACE and a member of the Inter-factional Association “Crimea Platform”, said that the Council of Europe plans to allocate EUR 50 million to support activity with Crimea and the Crimean Tatar people over the next three years. 

The celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Office was also attended by the leader of the Crimean Tatar people Mustafa Dzhemilev, Ambassador of Lithuania Valdemaras Sarapinas, Ambassador of Latvia Ilgvars Kļava, Ambassador of Estonia Kaimo Kuusk, Ambassador of Croatia Anica Džamić, Ambassador of Slovenia Tomaž Mencin, as well as diplomats from the United States of America, Turkey, and Slovakia, and other guests. 

During the event, an important discussion “Achievements and challenges on the way towards de-occupied and peaceful Crimea” took place, moderated by Sevgil Musaieva, editor-in-chief of the Ukrayinska Pravda media outlet. Minister of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandra Azarkhina, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov, Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People Refat Chubarov, Permanent Representative Tamila Tasheva, Head of the Prosecutor’s Office of Crimea Ihor Ponochovny, and Advocacy Director at Human Rights Center ZMINA Alyona Lunyova joined the discussion. 

Lunyova spoke about the Ukrainian citizens who lived in the occupied Crimea all the time and who should not be afraid, but should wait for the Armed Forces of Ukraine: “We are not going to organize a ‘witch-hunt’. It is necessary to ensure that our citizens are not afraid of the restoration of Ukrainian authorities. This is our ultimate task. After all, we understand how the occupied peninsula is currently poisoned informationally and culturally. To what extent the Russian Federation has done everything possible with its propaganda to make the Crimeans fear and hate Ukraine. But we already know that we destroyed the myth of ‘Russia forever’. Our citizens are waiting for us.“ 

After the panel discussion, the artistic part of the event began with an exhibition of works by Ukrainian artists dedicated to political prisoners and activists who have been resisting in the territory of occupied Crimea all these years.

In particular, the photo exhibition “Stories from occupied Crimea” was presented with the works of three Ukrainian reporters – Alina Smutko, Taras Ibragimov, and Aliona Savchuk – who covered human rights violations in occupied Crimea and documented the lives of political prisoners’ families in 2014-2019 and later were banned from entering the occupied Crimea and the Russian Federation for 10 to 35 years for their journalistic activities. The exhibition was prepared by ZMINA in cooperation with the Office and presented in Croatia this October. 

Also during the event, ZMINA team was awarded for a significant contribution to the protection of the rights and freedoms of Ukrainians living in the temporarily occupied territories and to the development and support of initiatives aimed at protecting the country.

As a reminder, the Office of Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea was established in 1992 pursuant to the Constitution of Ukraine. After Russia occupied the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, the activities of the Office underwent significant transformations. Today, this is the body on the basis of which the Office of the Crimea Platform was created and its activities are aimed primarily at the reintegration and de-occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. 

Photo credit: Office of Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea