Crimean Leader Slams UN Human Rights Criticism As ‘Propaganda Myths’

December 20, 2017

101 1 minute read

Sergei Aksyonov / Kremlin Press Service

Crimean officials have slammed a new UN resolution that criticizes the human rights situation in the annexed Black Sea peninsula.

The UN General Assembly passed a resolution on Tuesday that called the Russian authorities in Crimea “occupation forces” and said that the application of Russian law was illegal there. Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, a move that has been criticized by the international community.

“The resolution does not reflect the actual situation in Crimea, or the opinions of Crimeans,” Sergei Aksyonov, the head of the peninsula, wrote on his Facebook page after the resolution was passed.

Aksyonov said the resolution consisted of “propaganda myths from Kiev,” while a Crimean member of Russia’s Federation Council said the resolution was based on speculation and “pure lies,” the RBC business portal reported.

Earlier, the Crimean parliament said that the resolution discredited the institution of the United Nations.

Parliamentarians said that the fourth UN resolution on Crimea was “unconvincing” because only 70 countries had supported it — six less than the last UN resolution — while 96 countries abstained and 26 voted against, including India and China.

Aksyonov said there are only two factors that have any real importance in the Crimean question: “the free choice made by Crimeans in 2014 and the might of the Russian armed forces.”

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