Editor’s Note: This feature separates Ukraine’s friends from its enemies. The Order of Yaroslav the Wise has been given since 1995 for distinguished service to the nation. It is named after the Kyivan Rus leader from 1019-1054, when the medieval empire reached its zenith. The Order of Lenin was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union, whose demise Russian President Vladimir Putin mourns. It is named after Vladimir Lenin, whose corpse still rots on the Kremlin’s Red Square, 100 years after the October Revolution he led.
Ukraine’s Friend of the Week: Margareta Kiener Nellen
More than four years have passed since the Kremlin invaded Crimea and started its military occupation of the Ukrainian territory. No doubt Moscow had hoped that by now the civilized world would have accepted the occupation and recognized Crimea as part of Russia, and not Ukraine.
However, the international community has remained steadfast in its determination not to acquiesce to Moscow’s ugly land-grab, the first such theft of another sovereign state’s territory since the end of World War II.
For that, Ukraine can thank its numerous friends around the world. Famous writers, movie stars, musicians and politicians have all lent support to Ukraine and Crimea, and the hostages that Russia has taken there. But less well-known people, such as Margareta Kiener Nellen, have also been doing much to maintain the pressure on the Kremlin over the issue of Crimea.
Kiener Nellen, a Swiss politician and expert in human rights law, is the chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Democracy and Human Rights. Under her chairmanship, the committee on July 11 passed a resolution condemning the unlawful imposition of laws, jurisdiction and administration in occupied Crimea by Russia.
“The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly strongly condemns the illegal occupation by the Russian Federation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, and reiterates its call on the Russian Federation to reverse the attempted annexation,” the resolution reads.
The wording of this strong resolution is important: It is wrong even to state that “Russia has annexed Crimea” – it has not. Russia is occupying the Ukrainian territory, but its claim to have annexed the peninsula is bogus. The generally accepted position of scholars of international humanitarian law is that under the Geneva Conventions, of which Russia is a signatory, the annexation of territory that is under military occupation is illegal.
It is also false to call Crimea a “disputed” territory. Only Russia, and a few other rogue states, claim that Crimea is part of Russia. The rest of the world is quite clear about the peninsula’s status – Crimea is Ukraine, according to international law. Just because Russia falsely claims to have annexed the territory does not mean that its status is “in dispute.” By analogy, just because some people claim the Earth is flat does not mean that the shape of the planet is “in dispute.”
Kiener Nellen is Ukraine’s Friend of the Week and a winner of the Order of Yaroslav the Wise for stating the matter plainly and clearly in her committee’s resolution. In it, the committee demands that Russia respect its obligations under international law, as stated in the Geneva Conventions. In addition, the committee condemns “violations, abuses, measures and practices of discrimination against the residents of temporarily occupied Crimea, including Crimean Tatars, as well as Ukrainians and persons belonging to other ethnic and religious groups, by the Russian occupation authorities.”
The Kremlin should realize that its hopes that the civilized world will accept its land-grab are unfounded. And the OSCE, European Union, United Nations, Council of Europe and all such international institutions should keep reminding Russia that it must respect international law, and the rights of the people in the territories it occupies. The Kremlin should also understand that condemnations of its actions will continue, and sanctions will remain in place, until it ends its illegal occupation of Ukrainian territory.
Ukraine’s Foe of the Week: John Warren
Following Russia’s invasion and the start of its military occupation of the Ukrainian territory of Crimea in March 2014, it has been very difficult for foreigners to visit the peninsula.
Under international law, the territory is still part of Ukraine, and to visit foreigners must get special permission from the Ukrainian government. However, this is usually only given if one has relatives living in the territory, or if the graves of one’s relatives are located there. Journalists and diplomats can be granted permission, but to visit purely for reasons of tourism is practically impossible to do legally.
Foreigners can visit Crimea reasonably easily, however, if they are prepared to break the law. Those who have a valid Russian visa can enter Crimea from Russia – the usual method is to fly from Moscow to Simferopol. However, that constitutes illegal entry to Ukraine, and if one visits Ukraine again having previously illegally entered the country, the usual penalty is deportation and a three-year entry ban.
The best advice for foreigners is simply not to visit the Ukrainian territory of Crimea until the Russian occupation is over. That’s certainly the advice that British citizen John Warren should have followed.
Warren was stopped at Kyiv’s Borispol International Airport before boarding a flight to London on July 10 and told he was barred from entering Ukraine for three years. It is not clear how Warren had previously entered Ukraine without being stopped by the authorities.
Warren, a British businessman known as “Sausage Man” because he started a company in Moscow making British-style sausages (which he has since sold), had entered Ukraine’s Crimea illegally at least three times, in April 2015, March 2016, and April 2017, according to RFE/RL, to film a cookery show for Russian television channel NTV.
Speaking to NTV, Warren described the situation as “unfortunate.”
No, it was not unfortunate – it was the entirely predictable outcome of a foreigner brazenly disregarding the laws of Ukraine. Warren, Ukraine’s Foe of the Week and winner of the Order of Lenin, should either have entered Ukraine legally or not come to the country at all.
Warren also takes this odious award on behalf of all of the other foreigners who apparently think they can simply waltz into Ukraine illegally and not suffer any consequences. Nearly 1,500 foreigners have already been banned from entering Ukraine for illegally visiting Ukraine’s Crimea.
The Kremlin, of course, immediately tried to score some propaganda points, which is another reason why Warren is this week’s foe. The Twitter account of the Russian Embassy in the UK tweeted a picture of Warren on July 11, describing him as a journalist, rather than a cookery show host, absurdly attempting to turn the issue into one of suppression of the freedom of the press in Ukraine.
So apart from breaking Ukrainian law, Warren provided some fodder for the Kremlin’s campaign of lies against Ukraine. Shame on him!
The Briton’s case should serve as a reminder to all foreigners that they should not support the Kremlin by illegally entering Ukraine’s Crimea: doing so helps to legitimize an illegal land grab by a hostile, aggressive, authoritarian regime, and undermines the international security order that has been in place since the end of World War II.
Meanwhile nobody should not have any sympathy for “Sausage Man” Warren: being unable to visit the wonderful land of Ukraine again for three years, he surely got his just desserts.
