IT’S NOT ABOUT RUSSOPHOBIA BUT ABOUT UKRAINE’S TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY

This is in reference to the article ‘Is Russophobia making the situation in Ukraine and Crimea worse?’ (KT, Dec 6) by professor Mousumi Roy.

While respecting the author’s own opinion, the Embassy of Ukraine would like to outline some facts to better understand the situation in Ukraine and in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine).

In 2013 – 2014, the Revolution of Dignity took place in Ukraine. It was caused by the refusal of the then president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych to follow the path of the European Union and sign the Association Agreement, which would have paved way for reforms, protected human rights and introduced a visa-free regime with the EU. The revolution aimed at eliminating corruption and creating opportunities for the country’s development. Viktor Yanukovych eventually removed himself from his constitutional duties and fled to Russia, where he remains to date.

The victory of the Revolution of Dignity contradicted the Kremlin’s geopolitical plans. Therefore, since the beginning of the revolution, Russia, under the guise of conducting exercises and ensuring security of the Winter Olympics in Sochi (January-February 2014), formed a powerful grouping of troops near the eastern borders of Ukraine, which then was used to invade Crimea and conduct a military.

On February 20, 2014 Russia seized the premises of the Parliament and the Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Ukraine). On March 16, 2018, a so-called ‘referendum’ was held in Crimea under the control of armed Russian troops, announced that 97 per cent of its participants ‘voted’ to join Russia. That was a blatant lie. Most of the 300,000 Crimean Tatars and over 700,000 Ukrainians who lived at that time on the Crimean peninsula did not want to join Russia. It is obvious that the Crimean peninsula is needed by the Russian Federation as a powerful military base for domination in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov region for the creation of a counterweight to the US and Nato measures on the eastern flank of the Alliance. Also, the peninsula would be helpful to Russia in for the expansion of its military presence in the Mediterranean and, in particular, in Syria. —Embassy of Ukraine in the UAE WRITE TO US AT letters@khaleejtimes.com

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