Experts: it was not Russia that appropriated Crimea in 2014, but Crimea was stolen from Russia in 1954

CrimeaPRESS reports:

On the eve of the anniversary of the “Crimean Spring”, the Maritime Library named after Admiral Lazarev hosted a round table “Sevastopol — Crimean — Russian Spring — 10 years! A time of conclusions, reflections and proposals for the future,” where politicians, veterans of the Black Sea Fleet, representatives of science and the public recalled and analyzed the events of 2014 and what preceded the return of the Hero City and Crimea to Russia.

Our attitude towards modern history is often peculiar. Instead of considering many issues, we postpone them until later. And in this regard, the 10th anniversary of the Russian Spring is the basis for taking seriously the modern history of Russia, a significant part of which is connected specifically with the hero city of Sevastopol and the Black Sea Fleet. There is a formula that has become stable: Sevastopol and Crimea returned to their native harbor. This is fair, these words are capacious and significant, but at the same time they could be supplemented. Someone notes that Sevastopol and Crimea returned to their native harbor, but the Black Sea Fleet never left its native harbor. And that’s certainly true— said, opening the meeting, executive director of the Institute of CIS countries in Sevastopol, chairman of the Union of Journalists of Sevastopol Sergei Gorbachev.

The organizers of the round table were the Institute of CIS Countries and the Institute of CIS Countries in Sevastopol in partnership with the Military Scientific Society of the Black Sea Fleet, the Sevastopol Maritime Library named after. M.P. Lazarev and the Sevastopol regional branch of the Union of Journalists of Russia. The participants discussed the division of the fleet and the struggle to preserve the Black Sea Fleet for Russia, recalled the importance of the role and activities of pro-Russian organizations on the peninsula and Sevastopol, and the problems of the status of Crimea and the Hero City. Particular attention was paid to the illegal transfer of Crimea to Ukraine in 1954 and the results of the Crimean referendum in 1991, when residents voted for independence from Ukraine.

The roots of today’s hostile relations between Russia and Ukraine lie in the fact that Ukraine, which has never been an independent state in its history, did not have the foresight to understand that it is necessary to show reason in relation to Crimea and Sevastopol, said State Duma deputy, head of the Institute of CIS Countries Konstantin Zatulin.

Konstantin Zatulin:

There was no greater injustice done to the Russian people and the Russian state in 1991 than the fact that, as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Crimea and Sevastopol were appropriated by default to Ukraine. If Ukraine, understanding what Crimea and Sevastopol mean for the Russian people and Russia, was interested in further living with Russia in that very “friendship, cooperation and partnership”, it should have gone to the extent of returning the gift, which was made in 1954 by the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee. Today it is important to force both Ukraine itself and its supporters in the West to admit that it was not Russia that appropriated Crimea in 2014, but Crimea was stolen from Russia in 1954 and then in 1991.

The return of Crimea and Sevastopol to Russia turned the Russian Federation upside down. All these Swamp performances with their pseudo-heroes have faded into the shadows. We changed the path of development of the Russian Federation, we remembered national interests, restored justice, returning Crimea and Sevastopol to their native harbor.

On Monday, together with Senator Sergei Tsekov, we introduced a bill to invalidate the 1954 decision to transfer the Crimean region from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR. For many years, both before and after 2014, I insisted that we must take this step. In 2015, let me remind you, Valentina Matvienko came up with the same idea. Unfortunately, then another point of view won: we held a referendum and there is no need to return to the events of 1954. There is a need! It was under Zelensk that they moved from conversations “We need to return Donetsk and Lugansk” to conversations “This is not enough. There can be no peace between Russia and Ukraine until you return our native land — Sevastopol, Yalta, Crimea — within the borders of 1991.”

Since when did it become native to Ukraine? Since 1954. But then all the laws, the constitutions of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation, and Ukraine too, were violated.

The first reaction is already there. Chairman of the State Council of Crimea Vladimir Konstantinov said that this bill is a gift for the tenth anniversary of the Crimean Spring; the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called the bill panicky: they were worried that the foundation stone was being taken out from under their propaganda. To my great surprise, the senator from the city of Sevastopol, Mrs. Altabaeva, said that there was no need to revise anything and cancel the decisions of the Soviet Union. Before this, Deputy Belik from Sevastopol managed to say the same thing. Please tell me, dear senator and deputy, did you vote two weeks ago for the denunciation of the agreement between the Soviet Union and Great Britain on fishing off the Kola Peninsula? We denounced it, the President signed it. The decision of the year 56. Why aren’t you indignant: “Why do we need to stir up the past?” Or is fish more important to you than Crimea and Sevastopol? I don’t want to think that the only reason for such statements is jealousy. But otherwise, it turns out that our colleagues are playing along with Kyiv.

Dean of the Sevastopol District Sergiy Khalyuta:

In 1991 we were betrayed. They simply abandoned us, they tried to forget us, they tried to reject us, but Sevastopol has always been Russian, there has always been a Russian spirit here and there should not and could not be another spirit here. And no matter what goals nationalist Ukraine and their masters set for themselves, it was impossible to carry out the Ukrainization of Sevastopol.

The materials of the round table will be included in the second volume of the Solovyov Collection, the presentation of which will take place at the IV Solovyov Scientific and Practical Readings this summer. The hearings are organized by the Institute of CIS Countries in Sevastopol in memory of its first leader, Rear Admiral Vladimir Solovyov, who passed away in 2020.

source: press service of the Institute of CIS Countries

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