By KYIV. Oct 31 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine condemned Russia’s intention to begin the autumn conscription into the ranks of the Russian armed forces on November 1 in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, and also called on the international community to increase sanctions pressure on Moscow.
“The Russian Federation must immediately ensure strict compliance with its international obligations and cancel the illegal conscription in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, in particular in Crimea. We call on the international community to condemn strongly Russia’s illegal fall conscription and mobilization campaign among Ukrainian citizens in the temporarily occupied territories and to increase sanctions pressure on Moscow,” a statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine says.
The Foreign Ministry said that in the territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied after 24 February 2022, Russia is trying to implement the policy of creeping annexation, which it also applies in Crimea. Since 2015, Russia has been conducting its 16th conscription campaign on the Ukrainian peninsula. In this time, the Russian occupation administration in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol illegally forced about 36,000 Ukrainians into military service, the ministry said.
“Under the guise of a conscription, a mobilization campaign is also underway in Crimea, the nature and methods of which testify to the desire of the Russian military-political leadership to reduce the number of Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars on the peninsula as the category of persons who are the most resistant to the Russian occupation,” the statement reads.
It is stressed that by carrying out the conscription, Russia grossly violates its international legal obligations, including those under the Geneva Convention on the Protection of the Civilian Population in Time of War.
“Under the international humanitarian law, an occupying power is prohibited from forcing protected persons to serve in its armed or auxiliary forces, as well as from exerting pressure and carrying out propaganda in favor of voluntary entry into the army,” the MFA explained.
In addition, the Ministry drew attention to the critical importance of continuing to provide military, political, financial and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine in order to quickly stop the crimes of the Russian Federation and ensure the complete de-occupation of all temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories.
