14 January 2025
WEEKLY UPDATE ON THE SITUATION IN OCCUPIED CRIMEA ON JANUARY 14, 2025
Main news of the week
▶ Crimean human rights defender and citizen journalist Iryna Danylovych, who was unlawfully sentenced by the occupiers to seven years of imprisonment, is reporting serious health issues while in Russian detention. She suffers from severe headaches and has completely lost hearing in her left ear. Despite this, the administration of the Russian penal colony continues to ignore her numerous complaints and fails to provide adequate medical assistance, further worsening her condition.
Crimes committed by the Russian Federation
▶ As of January 2024, Russia has illegally imprisoned 218 people in occupied Crimea on ethnic, religious, and political grounds, including 132 Crimean Tatars.
▶ Illegally convicted Crimean resident Oleksandr Siziikov, who is visually impaired and classified as having a first-degree disability, is currently in transit at a correctional facility in Volgograd, Russia. Siziikov was unlawfully transferred — effectively deported — from Simferopol in mid-December 2024. He is likely being taken to Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, nearly 5,000 kilometers from Crimea.
▶ Medzhyt Abdurakhmanov, a Crimean Tatar unjustly sentenced by Russia, has had his detention conditions arbitrarily tightened and was placed in a high-security cell block without cause. He is currently held in Correctional Colony No.9 in the city of Tsivilsk, Chuvash Republic, Russia, 2,000 kilometers from Crimea.
▶ Illegally convicted Crimean Tatars Teimur Abdullaiev and Riza Izetov have been unjustly placed in punitive isolation cells in Russian prisons. Teimur Abdullaiev, serving a 16.5-year sentence, was put in isolation for not greeting the prison warden during prayer (namaz). Human rights activist Riza Izetov, sentenced to 19 years in prison, has been in isolation since December 6. Both political prisoners are held in facilities thousands of kilometers from Crimea, where they endure systematic psychological and physical pressure from Russian administrations.
The use of occupied Crimea as a springboard for attacks on Ukraine and the militarization of the peninsula
▶ Activists from the ATESH resistance movement detected a significant reinforcement of enemy air defense systems, including S-400 missile launchers and radar stations, at the Hvardiiske military airfield near occupied Simferopol. Additionally, the activists reported that Russian occupiers have established a fortified outpost with observation positions, military equipment, and guards in an abandoned multi-story building on the outskirts of Yevpatoriia. Moreover, near Dzhankoi, ATESH documented the movement of a large convoy of Russian military equipment, including personnel, artillery, fuel tankers, and air defense ammunition.
Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion and spread its armed aggression throughout Ukraine, occupied Crimea has been used by Russia as a military base for spreading aggression in various forms. From the peninsula, the occupiers continue to launch attacks on the territory of Ukraine, including on civilian infrastructure.
The resistance movement of Ukrainian citizens in occupied Crimea
▶ Russia has already prosecuted 1,139 people in occupied Crimea for expressing solidarity with Ukraine, who are being subjected to administrative penalties in the form of illegal fines and arrests.
▶ A resident of occupied Dzhankoi tore down a Russian flag from a neighboring house. Occupation security forces detained the man, and he now faces criminal charges for resisting Russian occupiers.
▶ Activists from the Yellow Ribbon movement launched a new wave of resistance actions in occupied Crimea. They spread patriotic ribbons and stickers along the embankments in Kerch and Sevastopol, as well as on the streets of Simferopol and Yalta. Activists also report that ecological issues linked to the oil spill pose a sanitary threat. A large number of stray dogs are consuming animals that died from oil contamination and may spread diseases. The occupation administration has failed to address the issue of stray dogs, potentially endangering residents of coastal cities most affected by the oil pollution.
▶ On January 10, activists from the Crimean Combat Seagulls movement reported drone attacks targeting Russian military facilities in occupied Kerch.
▶ The Zla Mavka resistance movement continues to maintain its diaries, documenting the realities of life under occupation. Additionally, the activists destroyed several Russian flags in Sevastopol.
The full-scale invasion was marked by a rapid increase in solidarity and resistance actions by residents of occupied Crimea against the Russian occupiers. Residents of occupied territories unite in resistance movements, such as the above-mentioned Yellow Ribbon, Crimean Combat Seagulls, Zla Mavka, and ATESH, or act individually. To suppress the resistance movement of residents in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea after February 24, 2022, the occupiers actively began to prosecute and bring to administrative responsibility Ukrainian citizens under the article on the so-called “discrediting the Russian army”.
De-occupation of Crimea is integral to ending the war and restoring peace. Ukrainians are doing everything they can to stop the aggressor and protect the entire world from Russia’s criminal actions. This is not a local or regional issue but a threat to the world and international order.