Human rights violators in Donbas and Crimea to experience strong international pressure

Everyone involved in the violation of human rights in the annexed Crimea and the Donbass should understand that they will be under powerful international sanctions, Director of the Political Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleksiy Makeyev said in an interview with Radio Liberty.

“Those involved in human rights abuses, detention, extrajudicial executions, and the use of torture by our political prisoners - all of these people must be aware that they will be under the watchful eye of the international community in violation of human rights. They will be subject to sanctions, they will not be in the countries of the world, they will not be able to use accounts, own real estate, that is, they will be under very strong pressure from the world community,” said Makeyev.

According to him, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine constantly monitors the situation with human rights in the annexed Crimea.

After the Russian annexation in Crimea, massive searches by independent journalists, public activists, activists of the Crimean Tatar movement, members of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, as well as Crimean Muslims suspected of having links to the “Hizb ut-Tahrir”, which was banned in Russia, became more frequent; after capturing the Crimea, Moscow tries to impose this ban on this occupied part of the territory of Ukraine, although in Ukraine this organization operates legally.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine officially announced on February 20, 2014, the beginning of the temporary occupation of the Crimea and Sevastopol by Russia. On October 7, 2015, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a relevant law. International organizations recognized the occupation and annexation of the Crimea illegal and condemned Russia's actions. Western countries introduced a series of economic sanctions. Russia denies the occupation of the peninsula and calls it “the restoration of historical justice.”