/ world today news/ Interview with the Head/President/ of the Republic of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov, given especially for the world today news site. (On photo 1 – Sergey Aksyonov, photos 2 and 3 – Sergey Aksyonov and Ivan Abazher – head of the Bulgarian community in the Republic of Crimea.)
world today news: Hello, Mr. Aksionov, we would like to ask you a question related to Specialand operation on the Russian Federation in Ukraine. Was there a threat? for attack from the side of Ukraine against Crimea, DPR and LPR?
Sergey Aksionov: There was a threat, we have no doubt. In February-March, Ukraine planned to attack Donbass and Crimea. This is proven by both intelligence and documents discovered during the special military operation. This is no surprise to us. The Ukrainian government has never hidden that it intends to solve the problems with Crimea and Donbas by force. Official Kiev has never ruled out the use of force. Just look at their statements in recent years.
View.info: Have there been hostile Ukrainian manifestations and provocations against the Republic of Crimea in the last 8 years?
Sergey Aksionov: These provocations continued continuously. For example, in 2016 there was an attempt to break through a sabotage group from the territory of Ukraine near the city of Armyansk. As a result of two clashes, two Russian servicemen died. The so-called Kerch incident, during which our Navy stopped the attempt of Ukrainian ships to pass from Odessa to Mariupol through the Kerch Strait, also received wide international resonance. Ukrainian spies and terrorists are regularly detained in Crimea. In addition, the blockade of the peninsula, water, energy and so on, is also a form of hybrid warfare.
View.info: How will Russia guarantee and protect the rights of the Russian-speaking population in regions such as Kherson, Kharkiv, Zaporozhye, Mykolaiv and Odessa after the end of the special operation? Are these guidelines correct and can they follow the path of the DPR, LPR and Crimea?
Sergey Aksionov: My personal opinion: these regions can follow the path of Crimea and Donbas, that is, hold referendums on self-determination or unification with Russia after liberation from Nazi rule. I think the results will be similar because these are historically Russian, Russian-speaking regions.
The only guarantee for the observance of the rights of the Russian-speaking population is the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, the implementation by Kiev of the conditions announced by our president.
View.info: What has changed, what was the situation of citizens to the Crimea before the referendum, how has it changed since: civil rights, national minorities, socio-economic situation, infrastructure and others?
Sergey Aksionov: During the 23 years of Ukrainian rule on the peninsula, the population of Crimea was subjected to forced Ukrainization. It continued under all Ukrainian presidents, albeit with varying degrees of intensity. It was the displacement of the Russian language from all spheres and the imposition of traitors and Nazi executioners like Bandera and Shukhevich as national heroes.
First of all, after the coup, the Maidan authorities repealed the law on the regional status of the Russian language, which was passed under Yanukovych and gave us at least some limited rights in the linguistic sphere. The Nazis promised that Crimea would be Ukrainian or deserted, Kyiv politicians threatened the locals with repression.
In clashes near the building of the Supreme Council of Crimea on February 26, 2014, two of our compatriots unfortunately died. The situation was getting out of control and could slide into bloody chaos, into war. Russia prevented this, gave Crimea peace and security. That’s the main thing.
Today, in our republic, equal development rights are ensured for the representatives of all peoples. According to the Crimean constitution, three languages have state status – Russian, Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar. State support is provided to all national-cultural autonomies, including the Bulgarian one. Dozens of book titles are published every year in the languages of the peoples of the peninsula.
Eight years ago, our president signed a decree on measures for the rehabilitation of the Armenian, Bulgarian, Greek, Italian, Crimean Tatar and German peoples and state support for their revival and development. Ukraine has not done anything like this for 23 years. This document restores historical justice and becomes an important basis for national policy in the region. A number of projects have been carried out in the area of housing the rehabilitated peoples. Among them are the construction of educational institutions, communal infrastructure, roads, residential buildings. Hundreds of families received free housing from the state.
If we talk about the socio-economic situation, here everything is visible, as they say, with the naked eye. These include unique infrastructure facilities, new roads, kindergartens, schools, social facilities, green spaces in our cities and much more.
Suffice it to say that the volume of the gross regional product has increased by 3.3 times compared to 2013. Funding for education, health care, social policy and other areas has increased significantly. At the end of 2021, the tourist flow amounted to 9.4 million people, this is a record figure for all post-Soviet years. The standard of living of people, pensions, salaries have increased.
View.info: What is the situation and place of the Bulgarian minority in Crimea? Will something change for them against the background of the deterioration of Russian-Bulgarian interstate relations or vice versa, no? What is the participation of the Bulgarian community in the socio-political, economic and cultural life of the Republic of Crimea? Can local Bulgarians be a bridge between Bulgaria and Russia?
Sergey Aksionov: Crimean Bulgarians, as well as the vast majority of Crimeans, came out in 2014 for unification with Russia. The Bulgarian national-cultural autonomy of the Republic of Crimea “Paisiy Hilendarski” does a lot to preserve the traditions of the Bulgarian people, carries out systematic work on learning the native language, revival of folk customs.
The Bulgarian People’s Assembly of Vintners and Winemakers of Trifon Zarezan is held at the republican level and is loved by Crimeans of various nationalities. Bulgarians initiate bright events on the Day of Slavic Writing and Culture and together with like-minded people from the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian communities realize the project “The One World of Cyrillic”.
In general, Bulgarians are very well integrated into the Crimean community. This is also confirmed by the fact that, despite their small number, they are well represented in state and public institutions, have an active civic position and occupy key positions in structures such as the National Guard, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Black Sea Bank for Development and Reconstruction, the Civil Chamber of the Republic of Crimea. It is significant that for the third time the chairman of the Regional Bulgarian National-Cultural Autonomy, Ivan Abazher, was entrusted by his colleagues in the Public House of the Republic of Crimea to represent the entire Crimean public in the Public House of the Russian Federation. .
The activity of the Bulgarian community in the field of public diplomacy is very important. So, for example, last year at the initiative of the Bulgarian National Cultural Autonomy and with the support of the President’s Grant Fund, the Bulgarian Cultural Center “Izvor” held the International Youth Forum “Dialogue of Cultures: Russia and the Balkans” with the participation of students and representatives of youth organizations from Russia, Bulgaria, Serbia, North Macedonia.
I am sure that even in the conditions of a fierce Russophobic campaign in the West, we must maintain the age-old friendly and fraternal ties between our peoples. Public diplomacy is an important tool in this regard. And the Crimean Bulgarians actively use it. Some time ago, they initiated the conclusion of intercity relations between Crimea and Burgas region, the revival of cooperation between Simferopol and Ruse and other cities. The only presentation of Russian Crimea in the country of the European Union took place in Bulgaria. And this became possible thanks, among other things, to the good relations that the Bulgarian community in Crimea has built with its historical homeland for more than 25 years of activity. This makes it possible to organize regular visits to Crimea by Bulgarian delegations of public figures, representatives of the scientific community and the creative intelligentsia. And we welcome such visits. The more accurate information about Crimea people in Bulgaria have, the less they will believe the myths created by propaganda.
world today news: Thank you for this interview!
* According to the Russian Constitution, Sergey Aksyonov is the Head of the Republic of Crimea. Since there is no such concept in the Bulgarian language, we translate it as President.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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