The Religious Freedom in Crimea During the Russian Occupation

Kseniia Denysenko,Olena Kovtun

doi:10.14746/ssp.2021.3.1

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of religious freedom in Crimea after the occupation of the Peninsula by Russian military forces in February 2014 and the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. The subject matter of the study is religious freedom in Crimea during the Russian occupation since 2014. The systematic and the structural approach allow the authors to see the entire picture of religious freedoms violation on the Peninsula. The study hypothesizes that with the occupation and annexation of Crimea, Russia brought the collapse of the religious pluralism and freedom that Ukrainians had experienced since 1991. In this paper, the authors cover a wide range of issues such as torture of religious activists, destruction and the illegal seizure of religious property, persecution of Ukrainians on political and religious grounds, deportation of Crimea’s population to the mainland of Ukraine. The research establishes that the occupiers created unbearable conditions for religious freedom, the lives of many clergymen and believers appeared to be in great danger. Different religious communities, especially the representatives of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (the OCU), Crimean Muslim Tatars, suffered significantly from applying Russia’s severe criminal and administrative requirements. The analysis allows seeing the complete picture of religious discrimination of different denominations and cruel religious persecution in the annexed Crimea beginning from February 2014 till nowadays.

Highlights

The occupation of Crimea by the Russian Federation is one of the key points in the modern international relations system transformation
One of the basic methods applied by the authors is comparative analysis, which was used in two directions: the comparing situation with the religious freedom before and after Russian occupation and alignment of the cases of Crimea and so-called “peoples republics” in Luhansk and Donetsk
The case of Crimea is the interstate conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and both sides believe the Peninsula belongs to it

Summary

Introduction

The occupation of Crimea by the Russian Federation is one of the key points in the modern international relations system transformation. ŚSP 3 ’21 ter February 2014, all international actors received an example of direct violation of the basic principles of the international law, such as respect for sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of the state, respect for human rights (confirmed in the UN Charta) and the principle of the territorial integrity and inviolability of borders in Europe (Helsinki Act). Russian policy in the region of East Europe and post-Soviet republics of the Caucasus and Central Asia has different forms from the direct occupation of the territories, the support to the separatist movements, the financial instruments (investments, aid, joint ventures, etc.), and “humanitarian dimension” tools (question of the official language, minority rights, ethnical issue, etc.). The case of Ukraine is interesting for the investigation of the Russian instruments toward the neighbor states, their nomenclature, implementation, and effects

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Results

Conclusion