Pants not quite on fire, but smoking

 

 

(Photograph by KyivPost https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/honest-history-to-whom-does-crimea-belong.html)

 

The world discusses actively the fate of russian oppositioner Navelny. Often they say about how the russian regime unjustly oppresses him. In rare cases his own views and statements are discussed. Many people think that a person’s views should not be criticized while the person in question is in russian prison under false accusations.

With tespect to this position, I will not speak about Navalny today. Let’s talk about his supporters who are free.

Specifically, about Leonid Volkov, russian politician who is acting head of Navalny’s party.

And about Christo Grozev, Bulgarian mediaexpert and Bellingcat journalist.

 

Refat Chubarov, the head of Crimean Tatar Mejlis, addressed Leonid Volkov because of the maps of RF on the “Free Navalny” website. The maps should Crimea as Russian territory, contrary to international law. Chubarov suggested to fix the map, showing RF according to the internationally recognized borders. Volkov refused, claiming that it is impossible.

Refat Chubarov wrote on his Facebook page about this discussion, noting that he does not want to repeat Leonid Volkov’s statements and that he offers Volkov himself to publish them in the comments section. Volkov did not comment.

https://www.facebook.com/dogrujol/posts/3720627394699054

Nor did Leonid Volkov publish a post explaining why Russia cannot be even drawn in such a way that wouldn’t be a crime against international laws. But he wrote about it in a comment to one of his posts.

This is the comment.

https://www.facebook.com/leonid.m.volkov/posts/3917979124891358?comment_id=3921435741212363

I will not comment on Volkov’s statement that “questions about Crimea are clearly off-topic, insults and poppycock”, since this line sums up nicely the attitude of the russian politician and needs no further commentaries.

So, why is it impossible to draw Russia without the occupied Crimea?

Volkov puts it this way:

“[…] it is well known that no other map can be published according to russian law – daring to act otherwise is a promise of doom and new criminal cases with long terms”.

(Yes. Volkov’s style in this part is rather fancy)

Sounds logical, innit? No one wants to end up in russian prison. Although it kind of goes against the whole idea of Navalny’s team bravely unmasking the corrupt russian officials, even at the risk of losing freedom, health, and life itself. Does it mean that Leonid Volkov and Co are willing to risk in the name of everyone learning about Putin’s palace, but unwilling to risk to protest against illegal occupation of Crimea?

Then again, there’s an obvious question. Sure, publishing a map of Russia without Crimea is against russian laws, got it. But publishing a map of Russia with Crimea isn’t a good idea, because it goes against international law, and anyways, it’s amoral.

Then way publish a map if it’s a crime, anyways?  

Who stops Leonid Volkov from publishing a list of regions where the party acts, for example, without a graphic illustration, and staying on honest person?

An obvious question, but Leonid Volkov never thought about it – and, as he claims it himself in his comment, Navalny’s team published map with Crimea on their websites since 2016. After more than 4 years not a single person said “Dudes, we’re doing a bad thing, man, let’s not do it. Let’s lose the maps”. Or the leaders didn’t listen to this person.

But Volkov doesn’t stop at mentioning the fear of the long arm of russian enforcers. He must explain that they do the right thing.  

So he claims:

“Meanwhile our political position is well-known and was made public many times on various platforms. The annexation of Crimea was breaking the norms of international law; it was Putin’s crime against the russian interests. The annexation of Crimea brought Russia the sanctions and economic crisis, led to impoverishment of russian people, removed Russia from the list of countries with which the world community is ready to deal as partners. We hope that sooner or later Putin will be made responsible for this crime”.

 

Well, duh… the annexation was breaking the norms, and it was a crime. But it seems to me that first of all it was a crime against Ukraine, and only then we can mention the russian interests.

Leonid Volkov doesn’t speak about Ukraine at all – he only mentions the sanctions and economic crisis. Thousands of Ukrainians who suffered from russian occupation – those who were killed, fugitives, political prisoners – none of them are considered in the political position voiced by Volkov. If not for the impoverishment of russian people, the picture that he draws wouldn’t be half bad.

Then Volkov proclaims with pathos:  

 

“Meanwhile, as it frequently happens, after the crime the criminal may be punished, but it’s impossible to easily “undo” the results of the crime – the murderer can be sent to jail, but the murdered cannot be resurrected”.

 

Was I mistaken? Did Leonid Volkov remember the Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars killed by russian military? Ah, no – he spoke figuratively. By “murdered” he does not mean officer Kokurin who was shot by a russian sniper – he means the captured territory.

Volkov explains his analogy:

 

“The annexation of Crimea let Putin create a problem point on the world map, one that, most definitely, will stay a problem for decades; the Crimea problem that Putin created has no simple solution.

According to international law Crimea stays a part of Ukraine, but de facto it is for seven years a part of Russia. Citizens of Russia live there, and many of them verily are not fans of Putin”.

 

This is the moment to remember the other person I mentioned in the beginning – Christo Grozev, a Bellingcat journalist.

Grozev is a supporter of Navalny, he regularly posts links to articles in his Twitter about how russian regime unjustly ruins the oppositioner. In response to a comment that Navalny is not a nice figure for the Ukrainians Grozev said that he sees no reason for it and that he thinks that Navalny’s statements about Crimea were correct. His opinion on this matter is similar to Volkov’s: there are citizens of Russia who live there, you can’t just make them Ukrainians.

“This problem has no simple solution”, the duo of Volkov and Grozed says.

Volkov and Grozev lie.

 

First, de facto  Crimea is not a part of Russia, it is a part of Ukraine occupied by Russia. Some of the citizens of Russia who “live there” are Ukrainians who were forced to take russian passports, and some are the Russians who moved into the occupied territory. Verily it doesn’t matter if they are fans of Putin or not – the russians  who moved to Crimea live on the peninsula that Russia has no right to hold.

Second, Volkov and Grozev’s duo is silent about the fugitives from Crimea who were forced to leave their homes because of occupation. Their opinion about Crimea, from the point of view of the russian politician and Bulgarian mediaexpert, is not as important as the opinion of the occupants who took their homes.

The musings about “you may punish the criminal, but you cannot easily “undo” the results of the crime” are a lie. “Undoing” the results of a theft is easy. The thief must return the stolen property or compensate the victim. The theft is a proven fact. The person of the thief is known. There is nothing complex in this situation.

And then Volkov sighs about the importance of supporting the struggle of russian citizens against Putin in Crimea, and makes an example of… Crimean Tatars. The very ones that have this Mejlis, and the head of Mejlis had just addressed Volkov about those maps.

“It is specifically in Crimea that Putin’s regime works one of the most massive oppresions; a significant portion of all the russian political prisoners are Crimean Tatars who are oppressed and incarcerated for huge terms because of “the Hizb ut-Tahrir case” and similar political cases”.

Crimean Tatars are citizens of Ukraine living under russian occupation. They do not need the “beautiful future Russia” that Volkov dreams about. They need the occupants to go away from Crimea.

And if Putin’s pants have been on fire for a long, long time, Leonid Volkov’s trousers… well, perhaps Volkov’s trousers are not on fire yet.

But they’re smoking.