What are the possible consequences of the military liberation of Crimea and what is the impact of de-occupation on the Black Sea region was discussed at the first panel discussion organized within the program of the Second Parliamentary Summit in Prague, by the Crimean Platform Expert Network.
The event began with opening remarks from Ruslan Stefanchuk, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Marketa Pekarova Adamova, Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, Jan Marian, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, and Olga Skrypnyk, Co-coordinator of the Crimea Platform Expert Network and Head of the Board of the Crimean Human Rights Group.
In his greeting words, Jan Marian emphasized that Czech people know what occupation is, and that’s why people have a lot of empathy and solidarity “Facing non-democratic regimes we should not be shy. We shall engage with grassroots activism, be innovative, open-minded and fearless in our support. And you can count on our support”.
First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Emine Dzhaparova, in her speech, explained the role of the Crimean platform in Crimea’s de-occupation, which priorities changed only from the diplomatic tool to wider use, where parliamentarians, leaders and experts are discussing all the ways to de-occupy Crimea including military libaration. “The Crimea case taught us a very important lesson, if aggression is not stopped it will be just bigger’, – Mrs Dzaparove concluded.
Lubos Vesely, Special Envoy for Russia Policy Coordination (Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic) in his speech underlined that Crimea will not be de-occupied automatically and Ukraine and international civil society should combine their efforts to make it happen in the nearest future. “This war will not end when Crimea is not libarated. It is not just a matter of law, it’s a matter of national security”, – he added.
Viktor Kevliuk, Colonel (retired), fellow expert at the Centre for Defence
Strategies explained to the audience more about the danger of the Russian fleet located at the Black Sea and also what are the current military needs of Ukraine to be protected from constant Russia aggression. Another expert from Ukraine Oleksandr Khara, Foreign and Security Policy Expert (Centre for Defence Strategies) explained why at international events it is important to talk about military liberation of the Crimea peninsula, and he mentioned that countries who suffered a lot from Russian aggression like Gerogia or Moldova couldn’t solve anything with diplomatic tools too. ‘Even though I am a diplomat I don’t believe that there is a room for diplomacy. Unless we can consider general Zaluznyi as a main diplomat who speaks the only language russians understand’, – he noted.
President of the Conflict Prevention and Early Warning Center, and former state counselor of the Romanian Prime Minister for foreign policy, security, and strategic affairs Iulian Chifu noted that Romania is not just a country that supports Ukraine but also suffers from the Russian presence in the Black Sea blocking trade, transportation, overflights. This is not acceptable to play with the mines in the sea. We don’t have exact proof where they’re coming from, but it is petty to see that the corridor we created with other countries to avoid blockages is targeted”.