REUTERS
The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv has called on the Russian Federation to drop the "charade of legitimacy" and cease practices of conscription to the Russian army of residents in the occupied Crimea.
Read alsoCourts in occupied Crimea find nine local men guilty of draft evasion"Russian occupation authorities in Crimea continue to forcibly conscript Ukrainian citizens in flagrant violation of int'l humanitarian law. Time for Russia to drop the charade of legitimacy, end the campaign of conscription, and withdraw from Ukrainian territory. Crimea is Ukraine," the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv wrote on Twitter on October 16.
Military draft in Crimea: reactions
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in April 2020 expressed its resolute protest over yet another conscription to Russian military service in the occupied Crimea.
- Such actions by Russia "constitute a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, which prohibits Russia, as an Occupying Power, from forcing protected persons to serve in its armed or auxiliary forces". "It is also forbidden to pressure and propagate in favor of voluntary military recruitment, as well as to move persons under protection outside of the occupied territory," the statement read.
- The European Union (EU) earlier said drafting residents of the Russia-occupied Crimean peninsula in the Russian army violates international law.
- "The Russian Federation is bound by international law, and obliged to ensure the protection of human rights in the peninsula," an EU spokesperson said in an April 13 statement.
- Since the start of Crimea occupation by Russia, occupying authorities have illegally drafted for military service about 22,000 local residents, according to the Prosecutor's Office for Ukraine's Autonomous Republic of Crimea (ARC).
- Illegal conscription to the Russian army of residents in the occupied peninsula indicates that Russia's aggression against Ukraine continues, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on October 13.
