DISINFO: Kyiv cuts off water as punishment for Crimea's legitimate return to Russia
SUMMARY
Kyiv continues with its desperate attempts to punish the Crimeans for their legitimate choice in favour of reunification with Russia. Kyiv’s ongoing water blockage of the peninsula may cause a new humanitarian catastrophe with hardly predictable consequences. These actions contradict international law and help to increase international tension. It is a pity that not all countries learnt the lessons of the 1871 London conference, which put an end to the struggle of the leading nations for the spheres of influence in the Black Sea. We see some countries' near-sighted attempts to re-write the international legal norms that set the rules for the use of the Black Sea straits. We have not forgotten Ukraine’s provocations in the Kerch Strait and the Sea of Azov, which were staged, we might say, with the help of some foreign partners and which could have provoked a new conflict in the Black Sea. Any contradictions can be solved only in an open and inclusive discussion.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin media outlets, trying to justify the 2014 illegal referendum in Crimea and accusing Ukraine of cutting off water supplies there in violation of human rights. In reality, the referendum was illegal because it violated the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 and the Russian-Ukrainian Friendship Treaty of 1997. The European Union and other leading democracies consider the annexation illegal and recognise Crimea as part of Ukraine. The United Nations adopted a resolution titled “Territorial integrity of Ukraine” on 27 March 2014, which said that the referendum in Crimea was not valid and that it could not serve as a basis for any change in the status of the peninsula.
Ukraine is not obliged to supply water to Crimea, because this responsibility is borne by the occupier. Before the annexation, the Ukrainian peninsula had been receiving 85 per cent of its fresh water through a canal from the mainland. The peninsula has been suffering from drought and the population has been facing problems with drinking water.
By the 1871 London conference, the speaker most likely referred to the Treaty of London, which was signed on 13 March 1871 by Prussia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Turkey, Great Britain, France, Russia and Italy. It reviewed some rules of passage through the Straits of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus. However, one can hardly say that these changes were in favour of Russia. Article II of the Treaty stipulated:
“The principle of the closing of the Straits of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, such as it has been established by the separate Convention of March 30, 1856 is maintained, with power to His Imperial Majesty the Sultan to open the said Straits in time of peace to the vessels of war of friendly and allied Powers, in case the Sublime Porte should judge it necessary in order to secure the execution of the stipulations of the Treaty of Paris of March 30, 1856.”
It means that Turkey was in its sovereign right to allow or forbid the passage of ships however it wanted. Since relations between the Russian Empire and the Sublime Porte throughout history could hardly be described as good-neighbourly, this small change did not bring the former any benefit at all.
All of the signatories no longer exist in the then borders, and the international situation has changed since then. New rules have been set for interstate relations, which Russia has been consistently violating in Ukraine and beyond since 2014. Its illegal annexation of Crimea and further aggressive actions against Ukraine have resulted in many problems for itself and for the temporarily occupied Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea as well. The deteriorating ecological situation there is one of these. Kyiv keeps insisting that the only way to stop Crimea from turning into a desert is its de-occupation and return under Ukraine’s sovereignty.
Read more disinformation cases alleging that Crimea’s annexation was legitimate.