Twelve years ago, on 16 March 2014, Russia organized a fictitious and illegal “referendum” under the control of Russian military forces in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. Just days later, the Russian occupiers used this act, which had no legal validity, to create a façade of “grounds” for the illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.

The occupation of Ukrainian territories constituted a grave violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the fundamental principles of international law, including the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act, and other key international documents.

The attempted annexation of Crimea has been condemned by a broad consensus of UN member states in several UN General Assembly resolutions. No country in the world, except for a few regimes allied with Moscow and internationally isolated, recognizes Russia’s annexation of the peninsula.

Under the bayonets of the Russian occupiers, the peninsula has been subjected to mass repression and serious human rights violations. Russia has turned Crimea into a territory of lawlessness where people are intimidated, persecuted, and imprisoned simply for the language they speak, the opinions they hold, or the faith they profess. Russia has also illegally banned the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and forced the cessation of the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The indigenous people of Crimea, the Crimean Tatars, have been subjected to particularly brutal persecution. For the second time in seventy years, Moscow has deprived them of their homeland following the genocide of the 1944 deportation. Tens of thousands of Crimean Tatars have been forced to leave the occupied peninsula, while those who remain face intimidation and repression.

During the years of occupation, at least 430 people have been subjected to politically motivated prosecutions, while the real number may exceed 500. Currently, nearly 300 people remain in Russian captivity under fabricated charges, including 159 Crimean Tatars. We demand their immediate release and safe return to Ukraine.

Russia also continues to violate international humanitarian law through forced mobilization, demographic changes and the destruction of cultural heritage sites.

Over the years of occupation, Crimea has effectively been turned into a military base and a platform for further aggression against Ukraine and destabilization of the Black Sea region. Only the deoccupation of Crimea and its return to Ukraine will ensure security and stability in the region.

Ukraine will continue to use all international mechanisms, including the International Crimea Platform, to achieve the de-occupation of the peninsula. The issue of Crimea will remain on the international agenda until justice is restored.

The world must learn the “lesson of Crimea”: the lack of a proper response to blatant violations of international law only encourages the aggressor to commit further crimes.

Crimea is Ukraine. It will return home.