Russian parliamentary speaker and former Historical Truth Commission Chairman Sergei Naryshkin has made statements asserting that it was Ukraine–not Russia–that actually annexed Crimea, citing a 1991 Crimean referendum as evidence. Naryshkin made his statements to the Russian parliament Wednesday.

RIA Novosti quotes Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin, “Back in January 1991, the Crimean region held a referendum, which disputed the transfer of Crimea to Ukraine. The vote for this was 93 percent with a turnout of 81 percent. Essentially, then, it was 23 years ago that the annexation of Crimea was made–though peaceful–but it was really annexation.”

Naryshkin said that the Ukrainian annexation of Crimea was possible because of the irresponsibility of some Russian politicians.

The 1991 referendum referred to by Naryshkin was over the issue of Crimea becoming an autonomous republic within the Soviet Union, and there was strong support in favor.

Ukrainian scholar Natalya Belitser wrote of this referendum, “After much heated debate and, perhaps, keeping in mind the possible bloody and violent consequences of rejecting demands similar to those made in other parts of the ailing Soviet Union, on February 12, 1991, the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet adopted a law providing autonomous status for Crimea within the borders of Ukraine.”

When, months later and after the failed coup against Mikhail Gorbachev and Ukraine’s declaration of independence, Crimea voted in a nation-wide ballot, 54 percent of Crimeans favored Ukrainian independence.

Following Naryshkin’s statement about Ukraine annexing Crimea, a history is given of the return to Russia of Crimea, which begins in November 2013 Maidan protests, and reaches a critical point on February 22 after “a violent seizure of power.” Following this, Verkhovna Rada, violating political agreements, changed the constitution and changed the leadership of the parliament and the Interior Ministry and removed power from the head of state, who was later forced to leave Ukraine, fearing for his life, according to the history.

“Crimea, in turn, did not recognize the legitimacy of the new government and decided to hold a referendum about the future of the region,” continues the article. “Voting took place on March 16. The ballot paper were made two questions: ‘Are you for the reunion of the Crimea with Russia on the Rights of the Russian Federation?’ and ‘Are you for the restoration of the Constitution of the Republic of Crimea in 1992 and for the status of the Crimea as part of Ukraine?’”

Sergei Naryshkin is a Russian official, politician and businessman who has been Chairman of the State Duma since December 2011. Previously he was head of the Administration of the President of Russia from May 2008 to December 2011; he was also chairman of the Historical Truth Commission in May 2009 until it was dissolved in February 2012.

RIA Novosti

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Russia is being sued by Ukraine for 1 trillion Ukrainian Hryvnias (UAH) for the illegal annexation of Crimea. The announcement was made by Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk Tuesday in the Verkhovna Rada.

The PM told the Parliament, “Ukraine has begun the process. The General Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation. And in a criminal case, the Ukrainian government filed suit in the amount of more than UAH 1 trillion.”

“The problems lie in the international legal plane,” said Yatsenyuk. “There are not many options for suing. But, without revealing all the legal details, we will use all possible legal means to bring the Russian Federation to court.”

Ukraine has filed two complaints with the European Court of Human Rights directly on the annexation of the Crimea and the responsibility of the Russian Federation to Ukraine, said the PM. Ukraine was also preparing claims against Russia for illegal seizure and robbery.

“We recognize that such trials do not take place in a month, but a legal process will be the result,” said Yatsenyuk.

Pavel Petrenko, Ukraine’s justice minister commented on the 1 trillion figure. “To date the amount of the loss is 1 trillion 80 billion. Due to the limitation of the use of objects, property and minerals, this amount will continue to grow,” said the Minister.

Pravda Ukraine

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Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Council on the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights has published a report that finds that the Crimean referendum that served as the sole pretense of validity in Putin’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea, was falsified.

Council member Yevgeny Bobrov, human rights worker Svetlana Gannushkina and lawyer Olga Tsetlina prepared the report after visiting Simferopol and Sevastopol April 15-18. The report was published on the President Soviet website Monday.

Although many reports from various sources have found that Russia had falsified the vote, these reports were discredited by the Russian government as US propaganda.

The report finds that the turnout for the referendum in Crimea was 30-50 percent–not the reported 50-80 percent–and only 50-60 percent of those voters favored joining Russia. Voter turnout and support for Russia was higher in Sevastopol city, where, the Council reported, there was a heightened fear of “illegal armed formations.”

The Crimean referendum was held March 16 behind a blockade of armed Russian and pro-Russian forces, which prevented Ukraine from entering Crimea to enforce Ukrainian law while the referendum took place. The results of the referendum were announced to be 97 percent of an 83 percent turnout in favor of joining Russia, although the ballot only had two options: join Russia and revert to an earlier constitution to separate from Ukraine.

Separatist forces in Southeastern Ukraine are also calling for Russia to assist them in Crimea-style separatist referendums.

Sources:

President Soviet

Kharkiv Human Rights Group

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