Trump-Putin meeting

“In all talks about the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, the protection of the population must be the focus,” demands Sarah Reinke, head of human rights work at the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), ahead of the planned meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The human rights organization is demonstrating against the meeting under the slogan “No dirty deals at the expense of Ukraine!” today (August 14) at 12 noon in front of the US Embassy on Pariser Platz in Berlin.

Since 2014, the Russian army, secret service, and occupation administration have been committing the most serious war crimes and human rights violations against the civilian population in Crimea and, since 2022, in the occupied territories of Ukraine. The Crimean Tatars, the Indigenous Peoples of Crimea, and minorities such as the North Azovian Greeks living in the Donetsk region are being persecuted and oppressed by the Russian occupiers. “All 76 of our settlements are now occupied by Russia,” says Olga Tsuprykova, representative of the North Azovian Greeks. “Many places have been completely destroyed by heavy bombing: no houses, no cemeteries, no museums, no churches,” she reports.

“The existence of these minorities is in danger. There can be no talks about front lines and territories without Russia being required to comply with the fundamental demand to uphold international humanitarian law in the occupied territories,” says Reinke. In addition, according to the STP, the following demands must be made of Russia as first steps after a ceasefire:

• Release of all civilians from the areas currently occupied by Russia who are in Russian custody;
• End of the criminal prosecution and imprisonment of civilians in the occupied territories. This is an instrument of oppression and intimidation;
• Stop of the destruction of cultural property;
• Establish humanitarian corridors along a contact line to allow entry and exit from the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine to the territories controlled by the Ukrainian government and vice versa;
• Grant access to the occupied territories for international organizations with the possibility of direct humanitarian aid and monitoring of the human rights situation;
• Establishment of a program to search for missing persons in the occupied territories;
• Demining of villages and towns as well as civilian infrastructure;
• Access for all residents of the occupied territories to health care, social and pension benefits, education, property rights, freedom of movement, and independent sources of information;
• Guaranteed return for people who have been displaced to Russia to their home territories and homes, with the possibility of leaving for areas controlled by Ukraine.

“Russia is doing everything it can to prolong the war and destroy the ties between the people in the occupied territories and free Ukraine. Cultural assets belonging to Ukraine, but also to all minorities living in the occupied territories, are being destroyed,” warns Reinke. Russia has forcibly introduced Russian legal, economic, educational, cultural, social, health, and information systems in Crimea and the other occupied territories. People living in the occupied territories are being forced to take Russian citizenship. The authorities are pursuing a policy of mass nationalization of property, abducting civilians, depriving them of their freedom, and torturing them. Russia is abducting, indoctrinating, and militarizing Ukrainian children and continues to hand over children to Russian families. According to estimates by Ukrainian NGOs, there are still around 1,600,000 such children in the occupied territories. 133 Crimean Tatars (out of a total of 220 prisoners from Crimea) are serving long prison sentences in Russian prisons for political reasons. Russia is conscripting Crimean Tatars from Crimea and Ukrainian citizens from the occupied territories into the Russian armed forces in violation of international law.

This press release was translated from German to English using AI. If you come across errors or ambiguities, please contact us at presse@gfbv.de.