Ukraine’s victory is impossible without Crimea — Natalie Jaresko, Chairperson of the Aspen Institute Kyiv Supervisory Board
On 18 July, the traditional Aspen Security Forum was held in Aspen, Colorado. As part of the Forum, the Aspen Institute (USA) screened the film Jamala: Songs of Freedom. A panel discussion with Natalie Jaresko, Chairperson of the Aspen Institute Kyiv Supervisory Board, followed the screening.
Natalie Jaresko stated that Ukraine’s victory is impossible without Crimea. After these words, everyone at the Aspen Security Forum applauded loudly.
Russia has been carrying out a systematic genocide of the Indigenous peoples of Ukraine for centuries.
Ms Natalie gave good reasons why the world should know about the Crimean Tatars and Crimea. The first of them is that the history of the Crimean Tatars is a testament to Russian colonialism for hundreds of years.
“The Minister of Defence of Ukraine, Rustem Umerov, spoke at the Forum, he is a Crimean Tatar. The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is a Jew. Therefore, Ukraine is the antithesis of what Russia is. It is a free country where you can speak your language, have your religion, and be who you are.”
If the principle of territorial integrity is violated, the war will never end.
The reason for bringing up Crimea is the Black Sea’s economic importance for Ukraine’s economy and military security.
“Ukraine has ports in the Black Sea, which are extremely important for the economy regarding exports. Access to the seas means not only food security for the world but also, for example, metallurgy exports.”
The Russians are systematically trying to exterminate indigenous peoples, as evidenced by their actions not only today but at least since 1783.
“The occupation of Crimea is terrible. Russia has arrested representatives of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis. People are being tortured and killed every day, and this is another genocide that Crimean Tatars are experiencing again and again.”
Crimea is part of Ukraine’s victory.
We should not hope that the change of political regime will change the centuries-old Russian colonial policy towards Ukraine and the Crimean Tatars, Natalia believes.
It would be a mistake to believe this is Putin’s war alone. This is Russia’s war.
“Brainwashing, propaganda, or whatever – it is not Putin who commits heinous crimes; it is the Russians. What you saw in Bucha was not done by Putin personally but by Russian soldiers. So we cannot expect everything to change when Putin leaves because many Russians support him.”
We thank Natalie for her strong position and speech at the Aspen Security Forum. We as a society need to make Ukraine’s voice heard on all possible global platforms.
Beth Mendelsohn, executive producer of Voice of America and director of the film Jamala; Tom Wright, senior director for strategic planning at the US National Security Council; and Julia Yoffe, founder and Washington correspondent for Puck News, moderated in the panel discussion with Natalie Jaresko.
