26 February 2016, 10:00
Dear compatriots,
On February 26, 2014 under the walls of the parliament of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea at the call of Mejlis gathered about 15,000 citizens of Ukraine, most of them Crimean Tatars, and together with them - Ukrainians and Russians supporting them. The protesters stopped the illegal conduct of extraordinary session of the Supreme Council of Crimea, initiated by the Russian security services and pro-Russia forces in Crimea. The peaceful protest disrupted the intention of the Russian leadership regarding "legal" separation of the Crimean Autonomous Republic from Ukraine.
Citizens of Ukraine were opposed by a mere thousand of visiting Kuban cossacks from Krasnodar region and local separatists. Having failed with realization of the so-called legal scenario, the Russian government used military: during two days occupied were several administrative buildings, state television and radio, centers of supply networks in Simferopol.
The rally staged by Ukrainian patriots on February 26 received a fair name Crimean Maidan and became all but the first massive and consolidated manifestation of civil society resistance to foreign invasion. The peaceful protest inspired other patriots to resist, and pushed the invaders to crimes. On March 3, kidnapped and tortured to death was Crimean Tatar Reshat Ametov who staged a single rally in support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine. After this tragedy, intimidation and abduction of activists, journalists, intellectuals, priests of various denominations, volunteers became a terrible commonplace in Crimea.
It is also worth mentioning courageous large-scale rally on March 5-8 with the participation of about 40,000 women who formed a human chain along the main highways of the peninsula with slogans: "Crimea is Ukraine!", "Putin get out of Crimea," "No war!" But the highest peak of Ukrainian resistance in Crimea can be considered ignoring by the majority of the population of notorious separatist referendum that has already obtained the name "referendum under the barrels of machine guns." The entire civilized world got convinced of the illegality of this referendum.
But the struggle continues. Against the aggressor are standing shoulder to shoulder people of different nationalities, risking their own liberty, health, and sometimes their lives. Framed up for terrorism are still in Russian prisons Oleg Sentsov, Hennadii Afanasiev, Oleksandr Kolchenko, and Oleksandr Kostenko. For the participation in the peaceful rally on February 26 are in prison Akhtem Chiyhoz, Ali Asanov, Mustafa Dehermendzhi, Talyat Yunusov, Eskender Emirvaliyev, Eskender Kantemirov, Arsen Yunusov, and Eskender Nebiyev.
Dismissals of the dissidents, the so-called preventive conversations, constant pressure and persecution, loss of property – these all returned Crimea to the twilight of distant 1937. Unfortunately, the peninsula has become a terrible illustration of what a darkness Ukraine could sink in if the Ukrainian Maidan had not stopped arbitrariness and lawlessness.
The price of returning the Ukrainian Crimea is colossal. This is predominantly human lives – the number of those who suffered from the occupation reached hundreds of thousands. I am convinced that only political solidarity, ideological unity and common understanding of the goal will help us to build up correct and weighed steps to return our territory.
Volodymyr GROYSMAN