17 September 2024
WEEKLY UPDATE ON THE SITUATION IN OCCUPIED CRIMEA ON SEPTEMBER 17, 2024
Main news of the week
▶ On September 11, the Fourth Summit of the Crimea Platform was held in Kyiv, with the participation of more than 60 representatives of different countries and international organizations. The summit participants emphasized their unwavering commitment to restoring Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, including the de-occupation of Crimea.
▶ On September 13, as a result of an exchange between Russia and Ukraine, 26-year-old Crimean Tatar woman Leniie Umerova was released, who was illegally imprisoned by the Russians in December 2022 when she was traveling to occupied Crimea to care for her father, who was seriously ill with cancer.
Crimes committed by the Russian Federation
▶ As of September 2024, Russia has illegally imprisoned 218 people in occupied Crimea on ethnic, religious, and political grounds, including 132 Crimean Tatars.
▶ Illegally sentenced to 13 years in prison, Crimean Tatar Riza Omerov complains of vision problems and vitamin deficiency due to poor conditions in a Russian prison.
▶ Remzi Bekirov, a civilian journalist from Crimea, unlawfully convicted by Russia, has been placed in a punishment cell of a Russian penal colony six times in a row without any grounds and for trumped-up reasons. In addition, the journalist is subjected to severe unlawful pressure from the staff of the Russian penal colony in Khakasiia, where he was recently transferred. The political prisoner is also prohibited from writing letters to his family and making calls.
▶ In Crimea, the Russian occupiers groundlessly and illegally arrested an activist with a visual impairment, Oleksandr Sizikov, who was 17 years old in a penal colony. The man was taken to an unknown destination. During his detention, Russian security forces threatened to use physical force against him.
The use of occupied Crimea as a springboard for attacks on Ukraine and the militarization of the peninsula
▶ According to the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russian occupiers launched a series of massive attacks on the territory of Ukraine during the week, mainly on civilian buildings. In particular, 2 X-22/32 cruise missiles from Tu-22M3 aircraft, 6 X-31P anti-radar missiles, and 205 Shahed-type attack UAVs, including from the territory of occupied Crimea and the Black Sea.
▶ Activists of the ATESH resistance movement continue to record an increase in military presence near the illegally constructed “Crimean Bridge,” in particular, they have spied on the movement of the S-300V system to cover the bridge from the north. The activists also conducted surveillance of the coast and bays of Sevastopol, during which it was found that most of the Russian Black Sea Fleet ships had left the occupied Crimea ports and only occasionally appeared in local waters.
Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion and spread its military 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 the occupied Crimea
▶ Russia is already prosecuting 943 people in occupied Crimea for expressing solidarity with Ukraine, who are subjected to administrative penalties in the form of illegal fines and arrests.
▶ A resident of occupied Armiansk posted patriotic pictures in support of Ukraine on social media, criticized the actions of the occupiers, and waited for the de-occupation of Crimea from the Russian invaders. Russian security forces detained the woman for the so-called “discrediting of the Russian Armed Forces” and sent the materials to the occupation “court.”
▶ For the Fourth Summit of the Crimea Platform, activists of the Yellow Ribbon Movement distributed patriotic leaflets reminding that resistance to the Russian occupation in Crimea continues, in particular, the action was held in the occupied Simferopol, Sevastopol, Yevpatoriia, Yalta, Dzhankoi, Armiansk, and Hurzuf. The activists also distributed flags of Ukraine in the city of Simeiz in the occupied Crimea, with a reminder that Crimean residents are waiting for de-occupation in every part of the peninsula.
▶ Activists of the Crimean Combat Seagulls congratulated the service members on the Day of Military Intelligence and thanked the Ukrainian special services for supporting the resistance movement in Crimea.
▶ The Zla Mavka resistance movement continues to write diaries, which inform about the realities of life in the occupied territories. The activists also shared that diaries from the occupation were presented at the Crimea Platform summit. In addition, the activists emphasized that even after 10 years of occupation, there are still references to the Ukrainian language in public places in Crimea, despite all the occupiers’ attempts to disguise it.
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 the 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.