Yesterday, on June 14, a meeting of the Expert Council of the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea was held. The meeting was attended by Permanent Representative Tamila Tasheva, Deputy Permanent Representative Denys Chystikov, and Head of the Crimea Platform Support Service Maria Tomak.

During the meeting, they discussed the results of the Mission’s activities in the first half of 2024, plans for the near future, and possible areas of cooperation with the members of the Expert Council. The Permanent Representative thanked the members of the Expert Council for their active cooperation. Tamila Tasheva also noted that a package of legislative initiatives had been developed for the Crimea Platform Summit, to which she invited the members of the Expert Council to contribute their draft legislative acts. In addition, they considered the issue of involving representatives of the indigenous people of Ukraine, the Karaites, who will participate in the next meeting of the Expert Council.

Tamila Tasheva also noted that the Representative Office has received preliminary approval from several parliamentary committees to hold inter-committee hearings on the settlement of problematic issues in the humanitarian sphere of the temporarily occupied territories of Crimea. These committees include the Committee on Education, Science, and Innovation, the Committee on Freedom of Speech, and the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy. In light of this, the Permanent Representative invited the members of the Expert Council to actively participate in the joint development of the agenda and preparation of the event.

Maria Tomak, Head of the Crimea Platform Support Service, spoke about the international orientation of work and preparations for international events within the Crimea Platform 2024. She also noted that the working interaction with representatives of the expert network of the Crimea Platform is already underway.

During the meeting, the experts highlighted several problematic issues, which, in their opinion, require the attention of the Mission and the search for solutions together with representatives of the public environment. Tamila Tasheva asked the experts to provide detailed information on the issues raised, after which the Mission will begin work on them.

Furthermore, it was noted that the Mission was involved in the organization of the Crimea Stage at the Kraina Mrii ethno-festival. The members of the Expert Council were cordially invited to attend.

We would like to thank the members of the Expert Council for their valuable contributions to the meeting, in particular, Deputy Director General of the Ukrainian Institute Alim Aliiev, Chairman of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, member of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People Eskender Bariiev, Serhii Kovalskyi, Representative of the National Council of Ukrainians of Crimea, Valentyna Potapova, Deputy Head of the Centre of Civil Education “Almenda” NGO, Kateryna Rashevska, lawyer of the Regional Center for Human Rights NGO, expert of the Ukraine 5 AM Coalition Daria Svyrydova, lawyer of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union public reception office on Crimea issues Leonid Sitchenko, Head of the Board of the Crimean Human Rights Group NGO Olha Skrypnyk, Chairman of the Board of the Black Sea Institute of Strategic Studies charitable organization Yurii Smelianskyi, Chairman of the Board of the CrimeaSOS NGO Oleksii Tilenko, associate professor of the Department of Slavic Philology and Journalism at V.I. Vernadsky Taurida National University, Member of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Gayana Yuksel.