Plans for such an event were announced by the Ministry of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories,[5] and at the 75th session of the UN General Assembly in September 2020.[6] The first mention of the Crimea Platform initiative appeared in November 2020, when First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Japarova presented it to the ambassadors of EU member states and discussed the practical aspects of involving the European Union in its activities.[7] Subsequently, the Ukrainian authorities conducted a campaign to involve Western countries in the platform.[8][9][10][11] On 26 February 2021, President Zelenskyy signed a Decree "On Certain Measures Aimed at Deoccupation and Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol", which decided to establish the Organizing Committee for the preparation and holding of the Crimea Platform. The Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the Preparation of the Constituent Summit of the Crimea Platform is the Minister for Foreign Affairs of UkraineDmytro Kuleba.[12][13][14] It is expected that the Crimea Platform will be represented in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.[15]
Negotiation topics, formats
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has identified five expected priorities for the Crimea Platform negotiation platform:
Firstly, security, including freedom of navigation. Second, ensuring the effectiveness of sanctions against the aggressor state. Third, the protection of human rights and international humanitarian law. Fourth, protection of educational, cultural and religious rights. Fifth, overcoming the negative impact of the temporary occupation of Crimea on the economy and the environment [16]
Negotiations will be conducted in five key areas:
the policy of non-recognition of the attempted annexation of Crimea by Russia,
expansion and strengthening of international sanctions against Russia,
international security,
human rights,
the impact of occupation on the economy and the environment.[17]
Special attention will be paid to the issue of Crimean political prisoners on the occupied peninsula.[18]
After the Summit, the activities of the Crimea Platform will not end. Four formats of its work are planned: presidential, foreign ministers, deputy and expert. The intergovernmental level will act in the form of consultations of foreign ministers, coordination meetings of specialized working groups on priority areas, conferences. In particular, it is possible to establish an annual forum dedicated to the security of the wider Black Sea region and beyond.[19]
In June, the expert network of the Crimea Platform was presented at the press centre of the Ukraine Crisis Media Centre. The event was attended by representatives of the Crimean Human Rights Group, Ukrainian Prism and Centre for Journalistic Investigations.[22] The founding forum of the Crimea Platform expert network with the participation of representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, embassies, national and international experts took place on 6 August in Kyiv.[23]
As for Russia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs previously allowed participation in the Crimea Platform, setting the condition: "If it is planned to discuss the resumption of Crimean water supply and electricity supply, lifting Kyiv's trade and transport blockade of the peninsula".[30] Ukrainian side rejected such possibility.[31] Russia later called Kyiv's efforts to return Crimea "illegitimate", and the participation of any countries and organizations in the Ukrainian initiative a "direct encroachment on Russia's territorial integrity".[32]
Russia also tried to undermine the credibility of the platform and prevent other states from participating in it through blackmail and intimidation - for this reason the list of those invited to the summit had to be kept secret.[33][34]
Despite all the circumstances, representatives of 47 countries and organizations are expected at the summit on August 23.
The United States was represented by a member of the Cabinet. This was announced by the US Chargé d'Affaires in Ukraine, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs George Kent in an interview with Radio Liberty.[35]
On the day of the summit, its participants opened the main office of the Crimean Platform, located in Kyiv, at Lypska street, 2. Among the tasks of the office, in particular, is round-the-clock monitoring of the situation in the occupied peninsula on human rights, economic and environmental situation, cultural heritage, etc., promoting the strategy of deoccupation and reintegration of Crimea, informing and communicating with Ukrainian citizens from Crimea with international partners. The head of the office is Anton Korynevych, the President's Permanent Representative to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.[52]
It is planned to open offices of the Crimean platform in some other countries that are signatories of the declaration.[53]