On August 23, Kyiv hosts the inaugural summit of the Crimea Platform, a new consultative and coordination format initiated by Ukraine pursuing ways of increasing effectiveness of the international response to the temporary occupation of Crimea and Sevastopol, intensification of international pressure on Russia and achieving the main goal of de-occupying Crimea and returning it to Ukraine.
The Crimea Platform Summit will become the largest international event ever held in Ukraine. The summit is attended by delegations from 45 countries and international organizations.
Russia has repeatedly stated that it had taken the issue of the affiliation of Crimea and Sevastopol off the table, and it would no longer discuss it in any format. It was this position of the Russian leadership that served as an impetus for Kyiv to establish an international format for keeping actualized the issue of Crimea and returning it to the international agenda.
The Kyiv forum will address the key problems of the peninsula annexed by Russia, including humanitarian and security issues.
It is also expected to adopt the “Crimea Declaration” – a document that will outline the basic parameters of cooperation between the countries that took part in the event. The document shall enshrine the non-recognition policy towards the annexation of the Ukrainian Crimea by Russia. It also stipulates unacceptability of human rights violations within the peninsula, the need to ensure security in the Azov-Black Sea region, freedom of navigation and special restrictive measures against the Russian Federation. Execution of the declaration will not be carried out physically, but by sending a special note by the acceding country to the address of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. Thus, formally, the declaration will remain open for signature by the countries that did not participate in the inaugural summit of the Crimea Platform.
On the same day, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, together with his fellow presidents who have arrived in Kyiv, will open the permanent representative office of the Crimea Platform in the city center. Kyiv believes this step to be extremely important, since from now on, this institution will deal with Crimean issues on an ongoing basis, coordinating all further activities that will be held under the auspices of the Crimea Platform.
The format of the Crimea Platform initiated by Kyiv is intended to return the Crimea issue to the international agenda and increase the sanctions pressure on Moscow to bring closer the de-occlusion of the Crimean Peninsula.
