Every day, our compatriots in temporarily occupied Crimea continue to tirelessly resist the Russian occupiers, demonstrating support for Ukraine and trust in the inevitable de-occupation of the peninsula.

In our regular column # resistance_movement, we continue to inform you, together with the National Resistance Center, about public sentiment among Crimean residents and about the people who destroy Russian propaganda narratives.

The occupation administration persecutes Crimean residents because of their pro-Ukrainian stance and manifestations of Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar identity. In 2022, Russia adopted amendments to the criminal and administrative codes, which provide for liability for the so-called “discrediting of the armed forces of the Russian Federation” to suppress the resistance and unwillingness of people to accept the occupation. The following recent cases are illustrative:

• Vitalii Kyrpach, a resident of Yevpatoriia, was publicly listening to Ukrainian songs in the city. The occupiers detained the man, forced him to apologize on video, drew up an administrative report, and submitted the materials to the occupation “court.”
• The occupation “court” in Sevastopol handed down “sentences” for allegedly possessing weapons and explosives to three residents who were declared “supporters of Ukrainian nationalist ideology.” A man declared an “organizer of a criminal group” was sentenced to 12 years in a strict regime colony with a fine of 300 thousand rubles (over 125 thousand hryvnias), two others to 8 years and 2 months in a strict regime colony with a similar fine and to 6 years and 2 months suspended imprisonment with a probationary period of 2.5 years and a fine of 13 thousand rubles (almost 5.5 thousand hryvnias).

Every day, organized resistance movements, which gained strength after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, demonstrate their resistance to the occupiers:

• Activists of the ATESH resistance movement continued to reconnoiter the occupiers’ military facilities; in particular, they discovered a new location of the Russian military in a sanatorium in Saky, a hidden ammunition depot near the village of Dobrushyne in Yevpatoriia district. They recorded the movement of a column of occupation military equipment near Dzhankoi. The activists also held a rally in Simferopol, and new graffiti calling to join the movement appeared throughout the city.
• Activists of the Yellow Ribbon Movement continue to combat the occupiers in Crimea, destroying propaganda materials and distributing patriotic symbols in cities such as Yalta, Yevpatoriia, Simferopol, and Sevastopol. The activists also report that in the temporarily occupied Crimea, drunken Russian soldiers turned cities into chaos during the New Year holidays.
• The Zla Mavka resistance movement continues its struggle, recording the crimes of the Russian occupiers and revealing them to the world community while decorating Crimean cities with patriotic symbols. Also, this week, activists from Sevastopol burned the Russian flag in the town. Their actions strengthened the spirit of resistance among the locals and emphasized that Crimea has always been and will remain a part of Ukraine.
• Activists of the Crimean Combat Seagulls movement are constantly identifying people who collaborate with the occupation administration. They continue to systematically collect and publish data on collaborators and Russian war criminals in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea.

As of December 26, the occupation administration illegally detained 218 people, including 132 representatives of the Crimean Tatar people, on trumped-up charges of terrorism, extremism, and treason. This is all part of Russia’s broader repressive policy against Crimean Tatars and all those who oppose the occupation and seek to preserve their cultural and national identity. Recent cases are illustrative:

• Teimur and Uzeir Abdullaiev, illegally sentenced by the occupiers, are held in critical conditions in a colony in the city of Salavat in Bashkortostan, Russia. Since his arrival in the colony five years ago, the colony administration arbitrarily moved Teimur to the punishment cell, and since then, he has been held there permanently.
• Visually impaired political prisoner Oleksandr Sizikov, illegally sentenced by the occupiers to 17 years in prison, is in transition in a penal institution in Volgograd.
• Rustem Seitmemetov, illegally sentenced by the occupiers to 13 years in prison, was diagnosed with the Third Disability Group after heart surgery.

The growing resistance to the occupation in Crimea is also evidenced by the increasing number of illegal administrative proceedings in the occupation “courts” under the article on the so-called “discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.” As of December 26, 2024, 1126 cases of materials drawn up under Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation were recorded in the so-called “courts” in temporarily occupied Crimea and other competent authorities. In 993 of these cases, a decision was made to impose an administrative penalty in the form of a fine or to join the case to another case under another article and make a cumulative decision. In 36 cases, the materials are still being considered. Disaggregated by gender, 442 (45%) decisions were issued against women and 550 (55%) against men. In total, the aggregate amount of fines imposed has already amounted to at least 26.4 million Russian rubles.🤬

We thank everyone for their courage and clear civic stance. Crimea is Ukraine, and we are struggling together to liberate Crimea as soon as possible and to return a sense of security to our citizens who are forced to live under occupation.

Glory to Ukraine!