The Crimean Platform summit was held in Kyiv with the participation of the United States, all EU and NATO countries. Zelensky called Russia to the forum to fix the "historical mistake"

On August 23, the Crimean Platform Constituent summit was held in Kiev - this is an international negotiating platform designed to return Crimea to Ukraine . The summit took place a day before the 30th anniversary of the independence of Ukraine, which falls on August 24. Representatives of 46 countries took part in the forum: in addition to Ukraine, these are the United States, all the countries of the European Union and all NATO countries . The conference was attended by nine presidents, four Prime Ministers, 17 heads of the Foreign Ministry or their deputies, as well as ambassadors of countries in Ukraine.

The United States at the summit was represented by the Minister of Energy Jennifer Grengolm. The German authorities sent Peter Altmeier to the Forum of Minister of Economics and Energy. On August 22, Kiev was visited by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who met with the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky, but she did not remain on the summit.

The Ukrainian authorities conducted the “Crimean platform” to make the Crimea theme one of the priorities of state policy and return it to the information agenda. The president of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky thought about it after the first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in December 2019, wrote the Russian BBC service, referring to sources.

According to the idea of ​​the Ukrainian authorities, the “Crimean platform” will work constantly, up to the return of Crimea to Ukraine. The offices of the Crimean Platform plan to open in several countries. “We do not conduct this summit for the sake of the summit itself. Crimea should not disappear from the agenda for another seven years, ” said Vladimir Zelensky at the opening of the forum. He called on the summit participants to solve the specific problems of Crimea, among which "strengthening sanctions, protecting human rights, overcoming environmental and economic consequences of occupation."

Among the participants there was no Russia, although at first it was invited to the summit. In January 2021, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmitry Kuleba said that Russia could come to the Crimean Platform, but only in order to discuss the "modality of Russia's exit from the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol and the restoration of the sovereignty and jurisdiction of Ukraine in this territory."

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said in December 2020 that Russia is not against cooperation with the Crimean Platform, if there are to discuss the “restoration of the water supply of Crimea and the supply of electricity, the removal of Kiev Trading and Transport blockade of the peninsula”. But in the end, Russia was not invited to the summit, so as not to turn the event into a circus, the sources of the Russian BBC service in Kiev told .

In front of the summit, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the “Crimean Platform” “Another Schabash” , where “the West will continue to play neo -Nazi, racist sentiments of the modern Ukrainian authorities.” The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, in turn, said that Ukraine’s efforts to return Crimea are perceived "as a threat of aggression against two constituent entities of the Russian Federation." She also warned that the participation of any countries and organizations in the “Crimean platform” would be perceived “as an unfriendly step in relation to Russia, as a direct encroachment on its territorial integrity.”

After the opening of the summit, the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin relate to the forum in Kiev "as an extremely unfinished in relation to our country ... as an anti-Russian event."

Participants in the summit in their declaration condemned the "temporary occupation and illegal annexation of Crimea." The participating countries agreed to introduce “political, diplomatic and restrictive measures” in relation to Russia due to the annexation of Crimea. They also called on Russia to “fulfill its obligations as a cupant state, to stop violating human rights in Crimea and allowing international observers and human rights activists to the region.

Vladimir Zelensky at the summit invited Russia to participate in the “Crimean platform” “to jointly develop the ways of de -Ukrainian de -capacity and its (Russia) of historical tragic error”. Zelensky promised that in addition to the participants of the Crimean Platform, the summit will be able to sign other countries and in it "there will always be a line for the signature of a representative of the Russian Federation." The Ukrainian president admitted that the representative of Russia would put his signature under the declaration "at the last summit of the" Crimean Platform "in Yalta."

Alexander Baklanov