12 years after Crimea annexation, Ukraine says nearly 300 still jailed on fabricated political charges
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Around 300 people are currently being held in Russian captivity on politically fabricated charges in occupied Crimea, including 159 Crimean Tatars, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said on March 16.
The ministry issued the statement on the 12th anniversary of Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, when Russian forces organized what Kyiv described as a "fake and illegal referendum" under the presence of Russian troops.
According to the ministry, Russia has since built a system of repression on the peninsula targeting activists, journalists, and members of the Crimean Tatar community, the peninsula's indigenous people.
"Russia has turned Crimea into a territory of lawlessness, where people are intimidated, persecuted, and imprisoned simply for the language they speak, the views they hold, or the faith they practice," the ministry said.
Crimean Tatars have faced some of the harshest repression since the occupation began, Ukrainian officials said, noting that Russia banned the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, the community's representative body, and forced the closure of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on the peninsula.
The Foreign Ministry said at least 430 people have faced politically motivated criminal cases in Crimea since 2014, though the real number may exceed 500 because not all cases are publicly reported by occupation authorities.
Russia has also carried out forced mobilization in Crimea and intensified the militarization of the peninsula, which has transformed the region into a launchpad for further aggression against Ukraine.
"Over the years of occupation, Russia has effectively turned Crimea into a military base and a springboard for further aggression against Ukraine and the destabilization of the Black Sea region," the ministry said.
Russia seized Crimea in 2014 after deploying troops without insignia across the peninsula and staging a referendum widely condemned by Ukraine and Western governments as illegal. The annexation triggered international sanctions against Russia that remain in place today.
"The world must learn the 'Crimean lesson': the lack of a proper response to a blatant violation of international law only encourages the aggressor to commit further atrocities. Now, as Moscow continues its aggression, there can be no talk of easing restrictions - all forms of pressure on the Kremlin must be strengthened," the ministry added.
