05 November 2024
WEEKLY UPDATE ON THE SITUATION IN OCCUPIED CRIMEA ON NOVEMBER 5, 2024
Main news of the week
▶ Crimean resident Liudmyla Kolesnikova, who had been living as a refugee in Ireland due to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, was unlawfully detained by Russian occupiers. In June 2024, she traveled to occupied Yalta for her mother’s funeral. Russian security forces detained her at the cemetery, and in October, they unlawfully filed a criminal case against her for alleged “state treason.” Kolesnikova reported that the criminal case was initiated because she had purchased two NFT stamps featuring a sunken Russian ship two years ago. She now faces a prison sentence of 12 to 20 years.
Crimes committed by the Russian Federation
▶ As of November 2024, Russia has illegally imprisoned 218 people in occupied Crimea on ethnic, religious, and political grounds, including 132 Crimean Tatars.
▶ Rustem Huhurik, a Crimean Tatar unlawfully sentenced by the Russian occupation administration, is losing his hearing in a Russian penal colony and is denied heart medications despite worsening shortness of breath. Additionally, his stomach issues have intensified. The Russian colony administration refuses him medical care and examinations. He is also unjustly held in a barrack designated for those allegedly “prone to terrorism,” and over the past six months, he has been placed in solitary confinement three times without cause.
▶ The health of Crimean political prisoner, civic journalist, and activist Osman Arifmemetov continues to deteriorate in a Russian prison. He has already lost 22 kilograms due to inadequate nutrition. The prison administration also prevents Osman from taking most of his necessary medications. Additionally, he is deliberately given pork, despite his inability to consume it due to his religious beliefs.
▶ An occupation “court” has unlawfully sentenced a resident of occupied Kerch to 16 years in a maximum-security penal colony on charges of alleged “state treason.” The case was held in a closed session, and details remain undisclosed. Such trials by the occupation administration against residents of occupied regions are unlawful and violate the Geneva Conventions.
▶ Crimean resident Bilial Adilov, unlawfully sentenced to 14 years in prison by Russia, was transferred to a penal colony in Kyzyl in the Russian Republic of Tuva, over 5,000 kilometers from Crimea. There has been no contact with him since August of this year. These unlawful transfers of Ukrainian citizens from occupied territories violate international law and are part of what is termed a “silent deportation.”
▶ The occupation administration refuses to place unlawfully convicted civic journalist Amet Suleimanov on the waiting list for a life-saving heart valve replacement surgery. Over several months, the political prisoner’s health has sharply deteriorated in Russian custody. He suffers from persistently high blood pressure, dizziness, nosebleeds, and shortness of breath. The denial of medical assistance to political prisoners from Crimea is yet another tool of pressure used by Russian authorities against unlawfully detained Ukrainian citizens and their families living under occupation.
The use of occupied Crimea as a springboard for attacks on Ukraine and the militarization of the peninsula
▶ According to a report from the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russian occupiers carried out a series of massive attacks on Ukrainian territory over the past week. Specifically, these included the use of 2 Iskander-M/KN ballistic missiles and 8 Kh-59/69 guided air missiles from the territory of occupied Crimea and the waters of the Black Sea. The Russian forces caused damage to civilian residential buildings in several regions of Ukraine.
▶ Resistance activists from ATESH report that servicemen from the occupier’s 810th Marine Brigade, stationed in Sevastopol, are trying to bribe their way out of deployment to the Kursk region of Russia. The activists observe staffing issues within the Russian occupying unit due to significant losses in the Kursk area, making Russian soldiers unwilling to go there. Additionally, activists report that the occupiers have started using a previously abandoned backup command post of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, known as “Object No. 221” or “Alsu-2.” The activists have forwarded the coordinates to the appropriate units within the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion and extended its military aggression across the entire territory of Ukraine, occupied Crimea has been used by Russia as a military base to further its aggression in various forms. From the peninsula, occupiers continue to strike Ukrainian territory, including targeting civilian infrastructure.
The resistance movement of Ukrainian citizens in occupied Crimea
▶ For showing solidarity with Ukraine, Russia is persecuting 979 people in occupied Crimea, who are receiving administrative penalties in the form of unlawful fines and arrests.
▶ In the occupied city of Saky, a 10-year-old girl posted a video on social media criticizing the Russian occupation administration. Russians detained the girl’s mother and opened an administrative case for alleged “failure of parental responsibilities regarding the care and upbringing of minors.” Additionally, the occupiers plan to send the case materials to the Juvenile Affairs Commission to hold the child accountable.
▶ A resident of the village of Vidne in the Simferopol district was reportedly awaiting the arrival of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and publicly exclaimed “Glory to Ukraine.” Russians unjustly arrested the man for alleged “discrediting of the Russian Armed Forces” and “propagating Nazism.” He now faces potential criminal charges.
▶ In Simferopol, a resident refused to stand during the Russian national anthem at a wrestling competition. Russian authorities are calling on the occupation administration to hold the man accountable.
▶ Activists from Yellow Ribbon organized another action, distributing patriotic leaflets in southern cities, suburbs, and nature reserves in southern Crimea, reminding people that Crimea is Ukraine. Actions were also held in Simferopol, Sevastopol, and Yalta. Additionally, on the day of Russia’s so-called “National Unity Day,” residents of Simferopol, Sevastopol, and Yevpatoriia distributed leaflets reminding the occupiers that Crimea is united only with Ukraine.
▶ Activists from the Crimean Combat Seagulls movement continue to expose personal information about collaborators and Russian war criminals operating in occupied Crimea.
▶ The Zla Mavka resistance movement continues to document the realities of life in the occupied territories in their diaries. Additionally, activists distributed leaflets across Crimea featuring poems by Ukrainian poets, including Taras Shevchenko and Mykola Mikhnovsky, as well as their own, reminding that the fight against the occupiers in Crimea continues.
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.