The evolution of the international Crimean Platform summit is fascinating. At the first summit in 2021, the focus was on creating global support for Ukraine's right (in accordance with the UN Charter) to restore its territorial integrity - the liberation of Crimea. The discussion was framed in terms of chances. However, on August 23, 2023, during the third summit - attended by representatives from 67 countries, both in person and remotely, including those from the Global South - discussions revolved around ways to de-occupy the peninsula. Practical issues regarding its reintegration into Ukraine, the establishment of a Ukrainian Silicon Valley there, and the signing of a memorandum in which dozens of Ukrainian and international companies planned steps to consolidate Crimea into the global economy were addressed.
Notably, the discussion began in the form of a press summit on August 22, where Alexey Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, outlined the mechanism for liberating the peninsula: "Most likely, this will happen through military means...". Almost in real-time, the following morning, in the western part of Crimea, the Russian S-400 "Triumph" air defense system was destroyed, symbolically opening the gates for aerial attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the peninsula. This was the main message of the summit and a response to attempts, through Western media, to explore the possibility of exchanging occupied territories for Ukraine's NATO membership. "Ukraine does not trade territories, Ukraine does not trade people," was the position stated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the opening of the event. Thus, Ukraine set a level below which discussions about Crimea are unacceptable and not considered. This position was echoed by other participants in their speeches. "Crimea is Ukraine. We will never recognize the illegal attempt at its annexation by Russia," said U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. "Sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of Ukraine are indisputable," stated Katalin Novak, President of Hungary.
The next important message that the Ukrainian side was able to reinforce was that all issues related to grain corridors, food security, and the protection of the rights and freedoms of the Crimean Tatar people are inseparable from security issues in the Azov-Black Sea region and presuppose the liberation of the Crimean Peninsula. This position received high-level support from other countries. "No one should harbor illusions that the occupation of Crimea is just a regional problem - it is global," said Andrzej Duda, President of the Republic of Poland. "On every platform, including the UN, our voice has been in favor of the idea that Crimea is a part of Ukraine," said Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey. The Russian side also expressed its position, conducting searches in the homes of Crimean Tatars with the forces of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) the day after the summit.
Source: latviatoday.info
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