Today, on January 14, Deputy Permanent Representative Denys Chystikov participated in a roundtable discussion titled “Violations of the Right to Education in the State Language in the Context of Occupied Crimea.” The event was held at the Ukrinform news agency and organized by the Ukrainian House National Center with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation, the Regional Council of Ukrainians of Crimea, the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language, the editorial board of the Krymska Svitylytsia newspaper, the Research Institute of Ukrainian Studies, and the Voice of Crimea NGO.
The meeting was also attended by Taras Kremin, Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language; Andrii Shchekun, Coordinator of the Humanitarian Policy group of the Crimea Platform Expert Network; Volodymyr Liashenko, Representative of the National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio Broadcasting in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol; Metropolitan Klyment of Simferopol and Crimea of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine; Yuliia Tyshchenko, Co-founder of the National Platform for Resilience and Cohesion; Valentyna Potapova, Head of Advocacy in Education at the Almenda Center for Civic Education, as well as other representatives of civil society, expert, educational, and media communities.
The discussion was moderated by Andrii Ivanets, a senior researcher at the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide.
The Deputy Permanent Representative emphasized that since the onset of Russian aggression and the occupation of Crimea, Ukrainian education has been nearly eradicated from educational institutions, and the educational system has become an instrument of ideological influence and assimilation. Denys Chystikov also recalled the relevant ruling of the International Court of Justice dated January 31, 2024, which documented discrimination against Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians, as well as systematic violations of their educational rights due to the elimination of Ukrainian-language schools, restricted access to Ukrainian educational resources, and the imposition of propagandist narratives. The Ukrainian language and culture have effectively been driven out of the educational space on the peninsula, while Crimean residents are compelled to study Russian history, culture, and political systems, fostering hatred toward Ukraine and disdain for its historical heritage.
The Deputy Permanent Representative underscored that the occupiers are deliberately rewriting history, creating a distorted version of events in which the role of Ukraine, Crimean Tatars, and other Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine formed on the peninsula is diminished and silenced, while Russia’s role is continuously glorified.
Denys Chystikov highlighted the forced involvement of schoolchildren in the so-called “Yunarmiia,” “Russia’s Eaglets,” and other propagandist-militarized organizations aimed at “patriotic upbringing” in the spirit of Russian citizenship and normalizing the concept of war.
“Following the inevitable de-occupation of the peninsula, we will face a prolonged struggle to overcome the consequences of Russia’s policies. The longer Crimea remains under Russian control, the deeper these consequences become. We will need to restore Ukrainian identity, revive true historical memory, and rebuild critical thinking in children and youth who were forced to study under a distorted version of reality,” emphasized the Deputy Permanent Representative.