Statement by the Crimea Platform Expert Network on the occasion of the Fifth Summit of the Crimea Platform

The Crimea Platform Expert Network, as one of the key dimensions of the International Crimea Platform, welcomes the efforts of UN Member States to ensure a lasting and just peace in Ukraine, in line with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, efforts of Ukraine and the Member States of the International Crimea Platform aimed at the restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders as well as the convening of the Fifth Summit of the International Crimea Platform on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the United Nations at the UN Headquarters in New York.

We, representatives of civil society and the expert community, united with the purpose of consolidating international support for the de-occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, ensuring the security of navigation in the Black and Azov Seas, overcoming the negative consequences of occupation, as well as contributing to the development of practices and recommendations aimed at establishing lasting peace and stability in the region, emphasize the following:

From 2022 on, in the context of full-scale war, the issues of Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories shall not be considered selectively. All occupied regions — including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol, and parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions — are parts of a single space of armed aggression, large-scale and systematic human rights violations, and international crimes by the Russian Federation, and shall be the subject of a sole negotiation and strategic track. Any separate discussions on the “specific” status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol or the Black Sea-Azov region carry the risks of fragmenting international solidarity and play into the Russian Federation’s approach of “special cases,” which is unacceptable for the international security and legal order system.

• The inadmissibility of recognizing any changes to the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol that contradict the UN General Assembly Resolution 68/262 “Territorial integrity of Ukraine” of 27 March 2014, which reaffirms commitment to the sovereignty, political independence, unity, and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.

• The continuing armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, its independence and territorial integrity, disregarding by the Russian Federation the efforts of the international community to ensure just peace in Ukraine, and its aggressive further attempts to extend  its control by occupying additional territories of Ukraine which is a blatant disregard by the Russian Federation of the international legal order established after the Second World War.

• The commitment by the Russian Federation, in breach of all its international obligations, of large-scale and systematic human rights violations, and international crimes, in the temporarily occupied territories of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, as well as in parts of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions.

• The large-scale and systematic policy pursued by the Russian Federation aimed at the destruction, devastation, and looting of Ukraine’s cultural and historical assets, as well as their use for ideological purposes to fuel aggression and legitimize armed occupation, which undermines the preservation of cultural heritage and identity of the regions and renders the process of post-conflict recovery impossible.
• The systematic non-compliance by the aggressor state, the Russian Federation, with the provisions of UN General Assembly resolutions, other international legal instruments and treaties.

• The implementation of targeted policy of discrimination and persecution against the indigenous Crimean Tatar people by the Russian Federation aimed at the extermination of the identity of the indigenous people of Ukraine which is pursuance of the genocidal policy as of 1944.

• The threat to European security created by the Russian Federation through the ongoing militarization of the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, the use of the Peninsula as a platform for further aggression against Ukraine, and the destabilization of the Black Sea-Azov region.

• The Black Sea-Azov region is a strategic foundation for economic development not only for Ukraine, but also throughout the entire region. Control over sea routes, port logistics, and access to energy and food resources is critical for Europe’s post-war recovery and stability. In this context, the role of the Sea of Azov as an area of instability directly linked to the Black Sea and, indirectly, to the Caspian Sea, deserves special attention. The status of the Azov and Caspian Seas as areas of international importance shall be clearly articulated, with appropriate mechanisms for security control and free navigation.

Thus, the Crimea Platform Expert Network emphasises the need to establish a new long-term security configuration for the Black and Azov Seas, which shall include:

– internationally verified restrictions on the Russian Federation’s military presence in the Black Sea for a specified period of time (for instance, 15–20 years);

– creation of a special mechanism for monitoring maritime security with the participation of a coalition of Black Sea countries (Romania, Bulgaria, Türkiye, Georgia, Ukraine) and key partners (the United States, the United Kingdom);

– introduction of a joint maritime presence of partner states with a mandate to protect commercial shipping, humanitarian corridors and maritime infrastructure.

• The inadmissibility of any concessions regarding the accountability of the Russian Federation and its officials for the mass violations of human rights, international crimes, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, crimes against environment committed during the armed aggression against Ukraine, in accordance with the international human rights, humanitarian and criminal law.

• The necessity of significantly strengthening, unifying, and expanding the sanctions policy against the Russian Federation and its affiliated legal entities and individuals regardless of nationality in order to end the aggression, to achieve the de-occupation of Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories, to cease the crimes against civilians in the territories concerned, to prevent the circumvention of existing restrictions, as well as to restore international legal order and to ensure the inevitability of accountability for violations of international law.
• That any constructive negotiations on conflict settlement shall only take place in the context of a sustainable ceasefire, shall cover all territories of Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, and shall aim at return of the temporarily occupied territories under Ukraine’s control and the restoration of the fundamental  human rights, thereby creating the proper context for a lasting and just peace.

We call upon UN Member States to reaffirm their commitment to the Charter of the United Nations and international law,  to take measures to restore and protect the fundamental values of the United Nations — peace, respect for human dignity and human rights, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as of 1948; to strengthen solidarity with the people of Ukraine, and to take decisive, coordinated measures aimed at the de-occupation of Crimea and other temporarily occupied territories, to intensify efforts to develop a new security architecture in the Black Sea-Azov region, in particular by limiting Russian military presence, expanding legal control over maritime routes, guaranteeing freedom of navigation, and ensuring the participation of a broad international coalition in guaranteeing this order, protecting and restoring the rights of victims of crimes committed by the Russian Federation as a result of the occupation; to restore the international legal order, and to guarantee a lasting and just peace in Europe and worldwide.