Only in Ukraine will Crimea be happy: interview of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to Crimean journalists

Ганна Андрієвська (Крим.Реалії), Севгіль Мусаєва (Українська Правда), Анастасія Рінгіс, Валентина Самар (Центр журналістських розслідувань), Мілена Амеді (Дом)
·
11:02, 19 August
Only in Ukraine will Crimea be happy: interview of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to Crimean journalists
Image source: Лабораторія журналістики суспільного інтересу і НВ

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky tells Crimean journalists how he plans to begin the process of returning to Crimea, reveals the main purpose of the Crimean platform and explains when Ukraine will feel like a real maritime state.

Journalists get to the Ukrainian island of Zmiiny by helicopter, which flies here from Odesa for a little over 40 minutes. Snake is temporarily the southernmost part of Ukraine to which the Ukrainian state has access. Crimea is not visible from here, but the island itself is very reminiscent of Crimean landscapes.

Our conversation takes place immediately after the naval exercises and the president's nomination for senior military ranks. The president sees a special sign at the interview site. Despite its small size, Snake is a strategic island. Who owns them controls the oil shelf at sea. In a recent article, Putin mentions the island, alluding to territorial claims. That is why military exercises are so important here.

"We will defend ours with weapons in hand!" Zelensky explains emotionally, hiding from the midday sun under a canopy made of camouflage.

This is the first interview in seven years of occupation of Crimea in which the Ukrainian leader talks about the intentions and plans to return the peninsula to Crimean journalists.

- We are meeting with you today on the Ukrainian island of Zmiiny. Probably not by accident. Why here?

- Not by accident. Because this small island, like any other of our territory, is Ukrainian land and we will defend it with all our might.

Today you had the opportunity to observe military exercises here, we pay a lot of attention to them. You know that we have an army development program that consists of three stages. We are actively passing them and it is already clear that we are able to protect every Ukrainian region, airport, city and Snake Island as well.

Because we know about Russia's interests, we see what plans the West 2021 joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises have. We are ready for various steps on the part of these states.

- Representatives of 30 countries volunteered to come to the opening of the Crimean platform. Given that in 2014 the resolution against the occupation of Crimea was supported by about a hundred countries, is this a satisfactory result?

- This is not a very correct comparison. All these countries, a hundred or more countries that supported Crimea, they also support, they have not become less. They support us with sanctions, they are ready to say that what happened to Crimea is an occupation. And we are grateful to them for such a position.

- This is a satisfactory result for Ukraine, and what would be a good result for you personally?

- This is more than the result for today. It is difficult today to say whether it will be a victory, big or small. Let's wait until all the representatives and leaders of the countries come to the Crimean platform.

Second, let's wait for the outcome of this summit. The third - a great victory - is to raise the Crimean issue, which simply does not exist now, even in the Ukrainian information space.

The Crimean platform is the first single institutional platform that will work not once a year, but every day in the office of the Crimean platform. And there the most important issues will be considered, first of all, humanitarian.

So far, Crimea looks like an aircraft carrier. This is no longer the pearl of Ukrainian land by the sea. Today it is a militarized peninsula of the Russian Federation, with a daily increase in armaments, a reduction in the indigenous population, a decrease in the attractiveness of natural, ecological, tourist, any. Here's what it looks like.

What can be done? You have to ring the bells. This requires a bell tower, hands. I believe that until that moment, there was no bell for the Crimean platform. But people and hands were and are. But please show them what bells to ring, besides the posts on Facebook: "Our Crimea is a pity, but we will return"?

Therefore, now there will be a Crimean platform, which will make every Crimean topic sharpened and relevant, ring the very bell I was talking about.

It is also important for us to do our homework at the political level - to adopt about twenty laws concerning Crimea, starting with the law on the abolition of the free economic zone of Crimea.

- We repealed this law.

- Mr President, but you did not sign it.

- I sign everything that is brought to me. I will tell you honestly, I plan to sign many of these laws during the Crimean platform. My idea was to involve other leaders in the affairs of Crimea. We signed the law on indigenous peoples without waiting for events.

I understand a million questions are always: "Why not, and when faster?". Everything will be signed and everything will be signed.

- Questions about political prisoners. Recently, the wife of Vladislav Yesipenko, a journalist imprisoned in Crimea, turned to you for help in freeing her husband. More than a hundred Ukrainian political prisoners have been detained in Crimea. Most of them are Crimean Tatars, who were also imprisoned for political reasons. Tell me, at what stage is the issue of returning Crimean political prisoners today? Are lists formed? Who will be on these lists?

- All lists are formed thanks to the work of our ombudsman. The issue of political prisoners is the most important thing for us. Unfortunately, it is completely slowed down.

Today, apart from direct talks with the Russian president on Crimean prisoners, I see no other way out. We may be able to work out new solutions during the Crimean platform.

I have a list of constant issues that I discuss with all leaders in any format of meetings. I always raise the issue of Crimean prisoners. Unfortunately, the lever of decision is on the side of Russia, which unites political prisoners with the occupation of Crimea. These people are not Ukrainian political prisoners for the Kremlin, as they do not admit that they occupied Crimea.

The Russians separate the lists of those in ORDLO and those of our people who are in the Crimea or already in Russia.

On the contrary, we combine these lists and say that the issue of exchanging everyone for everyone is an exchange, including for the Crimean people. But sometimes not only Russia but also other states do not want to raise the issue of Crimea and unite it with the issue of deoccupation of Ukrainian territories.

Of course, we have to work more at the level of European courts, we still do not work enough there.

I also call on the leaders of certain countries who support us to work actively and put pressure on the President of Russia. Today, the President of the Russian Federation can safely return our prisoners to us, even if he does not believe that they are political prisoners. We are ready for exchanges and any steps to bring back our Crimeans.

- Maybe it makes sense to impose separate sanctions for political repressions in Crimea? Repression is becoming more widespread, and people taken to Crimea for political reasons are being tortured in prisons. How can we influence this, if not sanctions?

- The issue of sanctions is complicated. I believe that Ukraine should impose sanctions where they have a real impact, and appeal to countries that affect certain businesses with their sanctions, on the real estate of the Russian authorities involved in the repression, on their accounts abroad. This makes sense.

There are states, the United States, Germany, France, Great Britain, which can really, decisively act with their sanctions against certain Russian officials and temporary officials of the Crimea, who have something somewhere abroad. We work with them on such sanctions, they are effective. But if every day, for example, by the decision of the National Security and Defense Council, we impose sanctions against the interim leaders, who are not in pain at all, I believe that we are simply discrediting the National Security and Defense Council.

We have imposed many personal sanctions against the Russian military. I look: well entered? Introduced. They showed that we have a common position with other countries, which is not possible. But constantly imposing sanctions on those who are not affected by these sanctions - I believe that this is not an effective way.

- In addition to political prisoners, there are their relatives who need help. There is such an initiative in Crimea as "Byzim balalar" ("Our Children"), which takes care of the children of political prisoners. There are now 190 of these children, and 30 of them need special care because they are ill. The whole world is raising money for this initiative. Can the state create any mechanism to support the relatives and children of these political prisoners?

- I am sure that we can create the necessary mechanisms. I would be ready with all the answers, if I knew all the questions, all the problems that the Crimean people have, we will fix this one. When it came to higher education, we gave children from the temporarily occupied territories, including Crimea, the opportunity to enter without an external examination, without any exams.

Please come to our universities! We will do our best to give them a place to live and support them. We are ready to support 190 children. Please provide us with all the details, we are ready.

- The law on indigenous peoples was recently adopted. How, in your opinion, will this law help liberate Crimea?

- The law on indigenous peoples is one of those laws that tell the Crimean Tatars that this is their land, without hints, but in real action. I believe that it unites people who live there, who understand that this is their land, and it is not just the president who is talking about it, but the law has already been passed. That is why such steps are important so that the core of people who consider Crimea as their land and part of Ukraine does not disintegrate.

The local occupation authorities and the Russian Federation, in particular, are doing their best to draw a line in Crimean society to divide these people. We must do the opposite so that people there understand that only in Ukraine will Crimea be happy.

This law does not provide Crimean Tatars with food, apartments, any goods, etc. This law says that this is their land, they are not intruders. When a Crimean Tatar walks down a Crimean street, he walks down his street, and if a Russian citizen walks opposite, he is a tourist and a guest on someone else's land.

- The next logical step is to recognize the Crimean Tatar national-territorial autonomy. We know that the steps to this end in 2018 have already been developed by the Constitutional Commission. Are you ready for this step, it's on time?

- This is a very important step that the Crimean platform should take: to study the legislation, changes to the legislation, and to propose to the President of Ukraine a bill already agreed with the indigenous population of Crimea.

I know that under the previous government there were some developments. Do they agree with my office? No. Do they agree with the Crimean Tatar society? I do not know. I do not know how normal this bill is. We need to work on all this.

The law you are talking about is one of those bills that there were a lot of. It has become a little less and will decrease with each passing day of the Crimean platform, I'm sure.

- The state needs to implement the policy of transitional justice, and the Commission on Legal Reform under the President has already developed such a project and six months ago passed it to the Office of the President. What is the fate of this document?

- Yes, this direction is being formed. My Representative for Crimea Anton Korynevych proposed the Concept and now it is being finalized, it has not disappeared. We had a great meeting in the office, not only with lawyers, but also with other representatives, and I can say that we have a strong team, which includes Andriy Yermak, Dmytro Kuleba, Oleksiy Reznikov and Anton Korynevych. It is Oleksiy Reznikov who has the main responsibility for the policy towards Crimea and Donbas, both in Minsk and outside Minsk.

- How to win back people's brains?

- As for Crimea, I believe that this is the question of territory. Yes, the Russian Federation has been working with Crimeans for a long time: passport certification, TV, and people who came. I remember from the "Quarter" - we were the only Ukrainian stars. However, the locals still did not consider themselves Russians, saying that they were Crimeans. While Russian stars have always said: "It's nice to be in the Crimea".

Therefore, the situation with the mental return is as follows: it seems to me that they understood what happened, saw what would happen in Crimea without Ukraine. In general, people want to see something good in the future.

Therefore, I am sure that no mental changes will be necessary. Ukrainian authorities will be gladly received in Crimea. Gladly believe me. Even those who are in the soul with the "October badge", who hid it somewhere - and they will still be happy. Because life will return to Crimea with Ukraine.

- The de facto occupation of Crimea also turns into the occupation of the Black and Azov Seas for us, we need to make a lot of efforts to protect Ukraine from the sea. In what condition is the Ukrainian Navy today?

- Yes, the issue of Crimea is also a question of unblocking the Black Sea and Azov coasts. We are working on it. There is a task to build a large fleet by 2035. It is long enough, but you and I will be able to see the results of the first stage on August 24 this year.

Our task is to build a professional, powerful fleet capable of repelling anyone. We are a peaceful state, but we must be ready for any steps. We are preparing to unlock the Black Sea region. This task was given to me personally and was supported by our army.

I understand that we cannot wait 20 years until we have the infrastructure for full-fledged shipbuilding, so we will start building a fleet - including in other countries. At the same time, we are building infrastructure in Ukraine to take up this process. There will be corvettes, there will be military boats, there will be small submarines - all this will happen. The same applies to military bases, construction of the first will soon begin in Berdyansk.

In this large-scale project, we count on the support of the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States. We have already received full support from the United Kingdom. The issue of strengthening the Ukrainian Navy is part of our forthcoming meeting with the President of the United States, as well as part of the agenda of the Crimean Platform and our talks with other states. We feel that Russia is trying to put pressure on other countries to help Ukraine, even if they do not participate in the Crimean platform.

- Due to the threats to the freedom of navigation, it has been a question of the permanent stay of NATO ships in the Black Sea for a year and a half, of the possible support of merchant ships in the Sea of ​​Azov. Are these negotiations continuing? Do you feel like the president of a maritime state in general?

- We have just talked about the stages of the formation of the Ukrainian Navy. I am sure that Ukrainian society will see the Ukrainian navy, and then I will feel exactly the president you mentioned.

Concerning the escort of our ships by the countries of the Alliance. You can see that every year we increase both our training and the presence of NATO ships in our waters. This is not only a matter of Sea Breeze, from now on it is a constant work and cooperation of our Ministry of Defense with the United States and European countries. We also have real agreements in this direction with both Turkey and the United Kingdom.

- We will finally die. Let's imagine that Crimea is being bought up tomorrow. Where will you go first?

- Oh, oh, I have a lot of favourite places there. I want to go to the sea, to our Black Sea, I want to. Cape Fiolent, then Castropol, then drink a glass of champagne "New World".

"Gurzuf?"

- Gurzuf is beautiful, yes, but it was always very pathetic there. We did not go there, very expensive. Our family generally lived modestly, and as a child, I did not visit Crimea, but I fell in love with it during my student years, this is our Ukrainian Crimea, and not the Soviet one at all, as the Russian media write. Most Ukrainians remember him as Ukrainian, thirty years of our independence is enough for that.