Council of Europe Secretary General calls for holding Russia accountable for annexation of Crimea

Ukraine and Bulgaria jointly organized the Second Black Sea Security Conference on Crimea, which took place on April 14-15 in Sofia.

According to the Golos Kryma news agency, the conference is the second flagship event of the Crimean Platform and the main platform for discussing and finding solutions to security problems in the Black Sea region.

The conference was attended by delegations from 42 states and 8 international organizations.

The Permanent Representative of the President in the ARC Tamila Tasheva emphasized that ten years ago Russia began the temporary occupation of part of the Ukrainian territory, including the Crimean peninsula.

"The weak response of the international community in 2014 contributed to the further attack of the aggressor state in 2022. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine, using, among other things, the previously occupied Crimea as a military base," she said.

Tasheva emphasized the global consequences of Russia's criminal actions, which uses its armed forces in the Black Sea not only for a full-scale invasion, but also for a naval blockade as an element of economic pressure on Ukraine. In her speech, she also mentioned the resistance of Ukrainian citizens living in Crimea to the occupation regime.

In turn, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Stefan Dimitrov said that Russian aggression has undermined the international security system.

"This war is a direct attack on the principles and standards for which the international community has been fighting in recent years. Russian aggression has undermined the international security system and destroyed the existing world order. This aggression is also a major challenge for us to revise the basic concepts of security that have prevailed in the world," he emphasized.

Secretary General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejčinović-Burić said that Russia's annexation of Crimea was "the end of a certain era" that turned into an aggressive war against Ukraine.

According to her, bringing Russia to justice is a key element of ensuring stability.

"The central aspect of this problem is to document all the crimes and damages caused by Russia to Ukraine," Pejcinovic-Buric emphasized.

Earlier it was reported that the occupiers had conducted at least 28 military exercises in the temporarily occupied Crimea since the beginning of the year.

It was also reported that at least 30 Crimeans were killed on the front line in the war against Ukraine in March this year.

Володимир Шкаєв