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Tuesday, 18 February 2020 12:03

TWELVE STEPS TO STOP RUSSIA’S WAR IN EUROPE

Michael MacKay, Radio Lemberg, 18.02.2020  — переклад українською тут

 

1 RECOGNIZE THAT RUSSIA IS AT WAR WITH UKRAINE

 

The Russian Federation is the aggressor state in the war in Europe. Russia’s war in Ukraine began on 20 February 2014. The armed conflict in Crimea and Donbas is international war.

 

2 INCREASE SANCTIONS ON RUSSIANS

 

Sanctions on Russian individuals and entities should be extended, broadened and deepened as long as the Russian Federation does not restore Crimea and Donbas to unconditional Ukrainian sovereignty. A full economic embargo and blockade should be enforced if the Putin regime doesn’t comply. The Russian Federation is engaging in unprovoked armed aggression and therefore must not be allowed to engage in the world economic and financial system.

 

3 LIBERATE CRIMEA AND DONBAS

 

Peace can only return to war-torn Europe after Crimea and Donbas are restored to Ukraine and the Russian invaders are gone.

 

Arm Ukraine. Support the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Until last year, the JFO was quietly and efficiently liberating Ukrainian settlements from the Russian invaders. The model of military professionalism which the Ukrainians developed can be extended to liberating all of Donbas and Crimea.

 

Keep the promises made to Ukraine by the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances. Ukraine gave up all its nuclear weapons in exchange for the good word of the Russian Federation, the United States, and the United Kingdom. If the community of nations doesn’t respect its agreements then the rules-based international order dies.

 

Get Ukraine into NATO. Ukraine is already the only fighting defender of Western civilization against the Russians. The broader North Atlantic region needs vanguard Ukraine to contribute its experienced military to collective security and to forward defence from Russian aggression.

 

4 DECLARE RUSSIA TO BE A STATE SPONSOR OF TERRORISM

 

The so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic” and “Luhansk People’s Republic” are terrorist organizations. They were created by the Putin regime to front the Russian Federation’s military occupation of part of Donbas. The “DPR” and “LPR” are branches of the Kremlin to terrorize the captive population. The Russian Federation and the so-called “DPR”/“LPR” are one and the same.

 

5 CHARGE PUTIN AS A WAR CRIMINAL

 

Putin is responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine. Putin has to be called to account for his brutal persecution of Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians. He has to face justice for the hundreds of Ukrainian defenders massacred after the Battle of Ilovaisk. He has to face justice for shooting down Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 and killing 298 people. He should be treated as a suspect in the International Court of Justice like former President of Sudan Omar al-Bashir.

 

6 TREAT CRIMEA AND DONBAS THE SAME

 

The Autonomous Republic of Crimea and City of Sevastopol, Luhansk Oblast, and Donetsk Oblast are all integral territories of Ukraine. But Crimea and part of Donbas are today occupied by the Russian Federation. Russian occupation is illegal, temporary, and the result of unprovoked armed aggression.

 

7 DECLARE ARMED FORCES IN CRIMEA AND DONBAS TO BE ILLEGAL ARMED FORMATIONS

 

It doesn’t matter if Russian armed forces invading and occupying part of Ukraine are made up of regular or irregular soldiers. It doesn’t matter what they call themselves. All soldiers in Ukraine – including Crimea and Donbas – who are not under the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are illegal armed combatants.

 

8 LET UKRAINIANS ALONE DECIDE QUESTIONS OF LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND IDENTITY

 

The era of colonialism and of imperial occupation is over. Ukraine cannot be an exception. No outsiders, particularly Muscovites, have a claim on Ukrainian land and people. Ukrainians are masters in their own home. They choose how to live in it.

 

9 RECOGNIZE CRIMEAN TATARS AS THE AUTOCHTHONOUS PEOPLE OF CRIMEA, UKRAINE

 

Crimea, Ukraine is the homeland of the Crimean Tatar people. They have a right to speak their language, practice their religion, and nurture their culture in their home and native land. The foreign invaders from Moscow are persecuting the Crimean Tatars on a scale comparable to what they did in 1944 with the Deportation of the Crimean Tatars – a genocide. The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People must be restored. This will happen when the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and City of Sevastopol are returned to Ukraine.

 

10 RECOGNIZE THAT THE PUTIN-KREMLIN REGIME IS A CRIME SYNDICATE

 

When the Soviet Union collapsed, Muscovy called itself the Russian Federation and the mafia became a state. Invading Ukraine, the Russian Federation steals oil and natural gas from Crimea, and factories and coal from Donbas. The Russian occupation regime in Ukraine sustains itself like a barbarian army from ancient times: by theft and plunder. When the whole country is structured as a crime syndicate it makes no sense to treat it like a normal nation-state. At the very least the Russian Federation should lose the permanent, veto-wielding seat on the UN Security Council.

 

11 REQUIRE RUSSIA TO MAKE WAR REPARATIONS TO UKRAINE

 

Over 13,000 Ukrainians have been killed by Russia’s war. Many more than that have be injured. Over one and a half million Ukrainians have registered as Internally Displaced Persons – they were made homeless and jobless by Russia’s war. Russia has harmed Ukraine grievously for no reason and it must pay.

 

12 EMBRACE UKRAINE AS THE QUINTESSENTIAL EUROPEAN NATION

 

Ukraine is the largest country that lies wholly within Europe. The history of Ukraine has been integral to the history of Europe since the rise of Byzantium. Despite centuries of brutal foreign occupation by Muscovy, Ukraine thrives. Ukraine embraces its European family. If it wants to survive Russia's war, Europe should embrace Ukraine back.

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