Permanent Representative Tamila Tasheva spoke at the international public meeting “Uprising in the Gulag: People Against Totalitarianism”, organized by the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory. The event was held on the eve of the International Day of Heroes in the Struggle against Totalitarianism, established by the European Parliament.

The main topic of the meeting was the uprisings in the Soviet concentration camps – the Gulags – in Norilsk and later in Vorkuta. It was in the Gulags that people were most often imprisoned for political reasons, where citizens were kept in inhumane conditions because of their struggle for freedom and against Soviet totalitarian rule.

It is important to note that the initiators and active participants of the uprisings were illegally imprisoned Ukrainians.

Ms. Tasheva told the audience that Crimean Tatars also became prisoners in Gulags and participated in uprisings. Although any parallels in this case are conditional, this practice of resistance in conditions of unfreedom is inherent in the temporarily occupied territories today. In particular, Crimea.

The Permanent Representative said that Russia is still holding 181 political prisoners (including Crimean ones), 117 of whom are representatives of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people.

Tamila Tasheva devoted a significant part of her speech to the resistance of the residents of the occupied Crimea: she told the audience about Bohdan Ziza, who in May 2022 doused the building of the occupation administration with blue and yellow paint in protest. He currently faces up to 10 years in prison.

In particular, the Permanent Representative spoke about 323 administrative cases opened by the occupation courts under absurd articles on alleged “discrediting the Russian Armed Forces”. Residents of the occupied peninsula are fined for shouting “Glory to Ukraine” and for Ukrainian symbols. Ms. Tasheva recalled the story of library workers in the occupied Crimea being fined for having a book about the Holodomor, which the occupation forces called extremist.

“Political persecution is a traditional method of dealing with “dissenters” that was used during the Russian Empire, the USSR, and now in Russia. The occupiers have practically turned the Crimean peninsula into a gulag and a zone of disenfranchisement, where Russia is now trying to completely erase the existence of Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians,” Tamila Tasheva emphasized.

The Mission thanks the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory for organizing such an important event. The history of our people’s struggle for freedom must end with Ukraine’s absolute victory over Russia, as only this will ensure the rule of law and democratic values, which our international partners rely on.