In Lviv, the participants of the II Crimean Forum of former political prisoners of communist regimes, representatives of national liberation movements and human rights defenders have unanimously adopted an appeal to the international community. In their opinion, not condemned crimes of communism became the new grains of KGB regime in Russia that destroyed civilization prospects of the Russian people and is now shaking the entire world order. The war in Georgia, the annexation of Crimea, the war in eastern Ukraine, threats to the Baltic countries, nuclear blackmail of the world, criminal bombing of civilians in Syria are on the regime’s conscience. This list of atrocities will inevitably be extended if the said regime has not been stopped.

In particular, the appeal says that recently the countries of the democratic West have felt the strength of subversive actions and information war. Unfortunately, the level of their naive credulity and inability to distinguish between the truth and the Kremlin’s falsehood is becoming more dangerous. As a result, their decisions are often inefficient and sometimes false. The Putin regime’s challenge against the global community is very dangerous. The Soviet and Kremlin prisoners are people who know the cynicism, hypocrisy, and criminality of the regime. They understand the level of danger.  They therefore strongly warn the governments and peoples of the democracies from illusory attempts to “appeasement.” After all, looking an arithmetic mean between good and evil means indulging evil.

Firstly, the participants expressed their solidarity with the Crimean Tatar people, forced to endure the second massive tragedy for the last 72 years and condemned the persecution of the Crimean Tatars by the occupation regime, including a ban of its highest representative body – the Majlis of the Crimean Tatar people. The non-violent way to fight for their rights, selected by the leadership of the nation, not only admires but also morally obliges other nations to advocate them.

The de-occupation of the Crimea, restoration of territorial integrity of Ukraine, rights and freedoms of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people and all ethnic groups in Crimea is a test for the conscience of the world. Any concession to the aggressor that brings an imaginary peace that would be burdened by further global disasters. Then, returning Crimea to Ukraine is a necessary act of justice, law and world order. Ukraine and the world community should develop a “road map” for the rights of the Crimean Tatar people to self-determination on their historic territory within Ukraine.

They also request to stop the abduction and murder of Crimean Tatars in the occupied peninsula, to investigate the circumstances of the crimes and to prosecute their perpetrators. Human rights defenders insist on the immediate release of all citizens of Ukraine, who are illegally detained in prisons and detention centers in Russia, in temporarily occupied Crimea and the areas controlled by militants of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. The participants called the international community both to require the Russian Federation to stop the demographic intervention and attempts to change the ethnic picture of Crimea forcibly.

Restoring the territorial integrity of Ukraine in the internationally recognized borders is a prerequisite for peace and democratic freedoms in the east and Crimea. Now the military aggression of the Russian Federation requires the mobilization of the Ukrainian people to defend the national sovereignty. Under these conditions, the success of democratic changes in Ukraine is the main factor in the victory over the aggressor. Instead, condemnation of the regime in Russia for the Russian people only to the extent that it supports criminal actions of its leadership. Hate, violence, and deceit, on which the Putin regime in Russia grew up, can undermine the process of reconciliation and cooperation, thanks to which the new Europe has emerged.

Currently, the national egoism, distrust, and pride, historical scores are gambling fashion that can poison the whole body of international relations. This path will determine further concessions as more and more populism but will give the possibility to solve the problems of the modern world. Meanwhile, nobody can change the old law: not condemned crimes are grains of a new crime. All local or global crises always have the solution – a return to the values that are the basis of human civilization. These values bring us together with the changing modern world. Denying these values is impossible to find peace and security.

Text by Ihor Halushchak, Lviv