Russia ignored its own laws in staging Crimea referendum – expert Voloshyna

She shared her opinions with Espreso TV.

According to her, there is confusion with the interpretations of the events that took place on the peninsula 11 years ago.

"What does it mean: 'Are you for Crimea's accession to Russia as an independent state?' And where is the independence of Crimea as an independent state? By what legislation was it established? In this case, we know that both the Ukrainian and Russian constitutions were violated. The Russian constitution explicitly states that the inclusion of any territories is impossible without the consent of another state, meaning it must be an independent state entirely by referendum. That’s the Russian constitution. So, they held a referendum in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Even if we assume it was indeed a vote, and that everyone who participated actually voted and the results were counted correctly," she said.

Larysa Voloshyna highlighted that Russia conducted a referendum in a foreign territory that had not seceded from its country, meaning it did not follow its national legislation for secession before voting to join another country. She pointed out that the Russian constitution was already violated in the process.

"Secondly, regarding the second question: 'Are you in favor of restoring the Constitution of 1992?' I want to remind you that the 1992 Constitution is the same as the Meshkov Constitution. In 1992, Meshkov signed a strategic partnership agreement. At that time, Crimea was part of Ukraine, and yet the Crimean Parliament adopted the Crimean Constitution. However, according to Ukrainian law, such documents can only be adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. In other words, it is the Verkhovna Rada, not Crimea, that has the authority to adopt the Constitution of Crimea. This constitution included a strategic partnership with the Russian Federation, similar to what we see in self-declared territories like Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Why would Russia, a foreign country, in violation of both its own laws and those of Ukraine, ask the residents of a region it occupies to vote on matters it has no legal right to? Therefore, this was not just an illegal referendum," said the psychologist.

According to the specialist, it was not a vote in principle. It cannot be called a referendum.

"Because even basic norms were violated, both Russian and Ukrainian, regarding the conduct of nationwide referendums and the proper observance of such votes. Therefore, I would argue that this was more of an imitation of a process, something akin to the election of Sevastopol's so-called 'people's mayor,' Chaly or Hily, or whoever they were. These were all illegal actions, nothing to do with democratic processes. We must view what happened there as an act of aggression, and the vote itself as an act of aggression. This was not a democratic process. Accordingly, we must assert in all international documents that the democratic process was only imitated, and we not only reject its outcome, we do not recognize it at all," Larysa Voloshyna emphasized.