DISINFO: International blockade of Crimea will end since Nicaragua opened a Consulate there
SUMMARY
The opening on Tuesday, 10 November, of the first foreign consulate in Crimea, constitutes a step towards lifting the international blockade of the peninsula, according to an official of the permanent mission of Crimea. One of the seven countries in the world that have recognised Crimea’s membership of the Russian Federation, Nicaragua, opens its honorary consulate on the peninsula on Tuesday, November 10. Following this diplomatic step, the lifting of the international blockade of Crimea is inevitable.
RESPONSE
Recurrent disinformation about the peninsula of Crimea that was annexed by the Russian Federation in 2014.
The Republic of Nicaragua officially recognised the incorporation of Crimea into Russia on 27 March 2014. It did also recognise the independence of the Russian occupied region of South Ossetia on 2 September 2008. In November 2020, Nicaragua appointed a Russian national, Oleg Belaventsev, as its honorary consul. Belavantsev is reported to be a close friend with the Russian Minister of Defence and a former Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Crimean Federal District formed on the day of his appointment in March 2014. The new honorific position of Oleg Belaventsev does not mean any improvement for the international recognition of Crimea as part of Russia.
On November 10, Ukraine issued a protest note and launched a sanctions process against Nicaragua due to the opening of its honorary consulate in Russian-occupied Crimea. According to the note:
The issuing of the Consular Commission to the so-called "Honorary Consul of Nicaragua to the Russian Federation" is a gross violation of Ukrainian and international law, in particular, the UN General Assembly resolutions 68/262 on "Territorial Integrity of Ukraine", 71/205, 72/190, 73/263 and 74/168 "Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine", 73/194 and 74/17 on "Problem of the militarization of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, as well as parts of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov’’.
US Embassy in Kyiv has also reacted in a tweet saying that Crimea is Ukraine and that Nicaragua's "honorary consulate" is yet another attempt by Russia to justify its contravention of international law.
The EU's stance on the annexation of Crimea has remained unchanged since March 2014, when it imposed the initial round of travel bans and asset freezes on entities and "persons involved in actions against Ukraine's territorial integrity." In continuation, the EU adheres to its previously taken policy of non-recognition of the illegal annexation of peninsula.
Read also Crimea regained its Russian status in 2014 , The people of Crimea voted in a democratic and legal way for reunification with Russia , The UN admits that Crimea is Russian .