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Russian lawmaker slams Crimean Platform as another round of information war on Russia

According to Vasily Piskarev, such "platforms" are meant to make public West-financed fake news, which is later used for anti-Russian propaganda within the international organizations and as a pretext for more anti-Russian sanctions

MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/. Ukraine’s Crimean Platform forum is "yet another round" of anti-Russian information war, a Russian lawmaker said on Monday.

"As a matter of fact, this event in Kiev is yet another round of an information war on our country. After Crimea’s reunification with Russia, the West has been using non-government organizations under its control to implement long-term projects on the so-called ‘de-occupation’ and ‘reintegration’ of Crimea, to entrench the anti-Russian ideology in Ukrainian society, and to discredit Russia’s policy," the commission on investigating facts of foreign interference into Russia’s domestic affairs under the Russian State Duma, or lower parliament house, wrote on its Telegram channel, citing its chairman Vasily Piskarev.

According to Piskarev, Ukrainian non-government organizations are being used for these purposes. "It is done by financing projects for the fabrication of data on alleged violations of human rights and freedoms in Crimea. Such tenders, for example, are organized by the British embassy in Kiev," he noted.

Such "platforms," in his words, are meant to make public West-financed fake news, which is later used for anti-Russian propaganda within the United Nations, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, and the European Court of Human Rights and as a pretext for more anti-Russian sanctions.

The Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, a city with a special status on the Crimean Peninsula, where most residents are Russian, refused to recognize the legitimacy of authorities brought to power amid riots during a coup in Ukraine in February 2014.

Crimea and Sevastopol adopted declarations of independence on March 11, 2014. They held a referendum on March 16, 2014, in which 96.7% of Crimeans and 95.6% of Sevastopol voters chose to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the reunification treaties on March 18, 2014. The documents were ratified by Russia’s Federal Assembly, or bicameral parliament, on March 21.

Despite the overwhelming results of the referendum, Ukraine still refuses to recognize Crimea as part of Russia.

Plans for the establishment of the so-called Crimean Platform were announced by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2020. The meeting was initially planned for May 2021 but was rescheduled for August due to the lack of certainty about its participants. Ultimately, the organizers announced that delegates from 46 countries and international organizations had agreed to come. Most European countries have delegated either defense or foreign ministers to Kiev.