Moderator: James NIXEY, Director of Russia-Eurasia Program, Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs (London)
Keynote speaker: Oleksii REZNIKOV, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories
List of Participants
- Katarína MATHERNOVÁ, Deputy Director-General for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Head of the Support Group for Ukraine, European Commission;
- Kara MCDONALD, Deputy Assistant Secretary Bureau of Democracy, Human rights and Labor United States Department of State (online);
- Laurynas KASČIŪNAS, Chair of Committee on National Security and Defence of the Lithuania Seimas;
- Kurt VOLKER, former US Department of State Special Representative for Ukraine Managing Director at BGR Group, Senior Advisor at the Atlantic Council;
- Jamie FLY, President and Chief Executive Officer, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty;
- Paul GROD, President of World Ukrainian Congress;
- Makoto SETA, Yokohama City University, Associate Professor (online).
The occupation of Crimea resulted in a large-scale destabilization of the Sea of Azov and Black Sea region, undermined the existing system of economic cooperation and disrupted traditional food supply chains as well as regional infrastructure.
Activities of the Russian occupation authorities provoked changes in demographic structure of the Crimean population, resulted in gross violations of human rights and the norms of international humanitarian law, as well as destroyed the established system of governance. After occupation the Crimea Tatars and ethnic Ukrainians in Crimea became the most discriminated communities on the peninsula, facing systematic and brutal harassments. The Russian occupation authorities conduct the assimilation policy towards ethnic Ukrainians aimed to eliminate their Ukrainian identity. Children and the youth are the most vulnerable groups. Moreover, the occupation authorities elaborated a mechanism of politically motivated prosecutions to control residents of Crimea, who did not support occupation. Ukrainian citizens in the occupied peninsula do not have access to essential tools of protecting their human rights.
Actions of the Russian occupation authorities lead to reshaping of the Crimean economy, its fast and excessive militarization, destruction of cultural heritage of the indigenous people as well as devastating environmental hazards.
Seizure of the considerable part of Ukraine’s territorial waters, attempt to convert the Sea of Azov into an internal pond, non-authorized and non-controlled oil and gas drilling in the Black Sea, implementation of large scale infrastructure projects, recommissioning of Soviet military objects, mismanagement of Crimea’s water resources – all this harmed the peninsula’s economic sectors and resulted in a significant alteration of the Azov and Black Sea region entire ecosystem.
Such a situation raises the issues of food, energy and environmental security, safety and freedom of navigation and economic activity in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. In this regard, a holistic vision of the future reintegration of Crimea is to be elaborated considering existing challenges.