Six years of the Russian military aggression against Ukraine

For six years on, the international community has been witnessing the ongoing military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, which constitutes an unprecedented violation of basic norms and principles of international law and order for the postwar Europe. It was launched on 20 February 2014 by the occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol and holding the illegal “referendum” on the peninsula, and then followed by the seizure of certain parts of eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions in Donbas.

Continuation of the Russian aggression against Ukraine threatens the global and regional security and stability, undermines the principles of international law and rules-based order, challenges peaceful coexistence of independent states.

The human toll caused by the aggression is constantly growing (more than 40000 people were injured, over 14000 were killed, 1.5 million people became the internally displaced persons).

Russia ignores the implementation of its international obligations as the occupying power by conducting on the temporary occupied territories of Ukraine systemic political persecutions, in particular on ethnic and religious grounds; violating fundamental human rights and freedoms; holding illegal elections and conscription of the Ukrainian citizens to the Russian army; pursuing the illegal passportization of the Ukrainian citizens; facilitating a massive migration of the Russian population to Crimea in order to change its demographic situation.

Russia does not implement its obligations under the Minsk agreements reached in the Normandy format, including their first and basic step to ensure a comprehensive cease-fire, the absence of which ruins all possibilities for de-escalation of the situation and peaceful settlement in the Donbas region.

Intensive militarization by Russia of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine is unacceptable. It poses a threat not only to Ukraine’s national security, but to the entire regional security and stability.

We demand Russia to stop its military aggression against Ukraine, de-occupy Crimea and certain parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and ensure the implementation of the respective decisions of international organizations and international courts.

Russia must immediately release all the Ukrainian citizens illegally detained in connection with its aggression against Ukraine, stop its criminal practices of political persecutions on the temporary occupied territories of Ukraine, including the acts of violence perpetrated against the representatives of national minorities, in particular Crimean Tatars, cease its gross violation of fundamental human rights and freedoms - freedoms of speech and assembly, media and religious freedoms, and provide full access to the occupied territories for established international human rights monitoring mechanisms.

The policy of non-recognition of the attempted annexation of Crimea, including its key part - personal and sectoral sanctions against Russia - will be kept until the de-­occupation of the peninsular and bringing Russia back to the realm of international law.