Yesterday at 18:58
The Ukrainian government has put the Ukrainian television channel, UATV, in charge of producing the documentary “The Kremlin Prisoners,” in order to mark the 4th anniversary of resistance against the Russian annexation of Crimea.
The goal of this production is to highlight the politically motivated conviction of Ukrainians in Russia, and also to force world human rights organizations to raise this sensitive issue, again and again, let it be at the UN or at various organizations.
The documentary was sent to all Ukrainian embassies around the world to enable as many people as possible to watch it.
“The Kremlin’s Prisoners” was presented on February 26, at the fourth international forum “Occupied Peninsula: Four Years of Resistance” organized by the Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine.
Achtjom Tschijgos, the deputy Chief of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, declared that “from October-November 2013 until February 2014, pro-Russian groups were very active in Crimea. However, a few locals attempted to oppose them as much as they could, all until the parliament session planned to accept Russia’s appeal to directly intervene in Crimea.”
“We wanted to rally and protest on February 26, which we, in principle, managed to do. Nor these separatists, nor these gang formations could prevent us from voicing our discontent, and as a result, the scheduled session of the Crimean parliament did not happen.”
“It seemed to us that we defended the territorial integrity of Ukraine on that day. In the evening, while saying goodbye to each other, we told ourselves: “Well, now, for 10 years there will be no separatist statements in the Verkhovna Rada.” But actually, everything went the other way,” recalls Ilmi Umerov – the deputy head of the Mejlis.
Senior citizens, builders, farmers, teachers, historians, directors, businessmen, activists, journalists … Their professions were different. All have different nationalities, some of them are Ukrainians or Russians, some are Crimean Tatars … but they all are prisoners today of the Kremlin. How many Ukrainians are now in prison? How does Ukraine help bringing them back home?
