Crimea Platform Summit to Begin in Kiev

The first Crimean Platform Summit will begin today in Kiev.

The summit is expected to host delegates from 45 countries—including an official US delegation led by Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm—and seeks to address and counter the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea and subsequent occupation.

While multiple topics are on the summit’s agenda including freedom of navigation in the Black Sea and Russian militarization of the peninsula, expect initial discussions to focus heavily on alleged Russian human rights abuses and the persecution of Crimea’s ethnic Tatar population. Since the annexation, more than 100 people have been imprisoned in cases Kiev considers to be politically motivated, more than 80% of whom are Tatar.

While the ultimate goal of the summit is the removal of the occupation, organizers including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have acknowledged that the Crimea issue has slipped from international consciousness. Organizers are immediately focused on reinvigorating debate on the situation. Thus, expect this summit session to aim to build consensus among the attending nations that the occupation is an issue of major international concern. Despite these goals, however, Russia has refused to budge on the issue, and is unlikely to do so without significant international pressure.