Crimeans are finding various ways to protest Russian occupation. Some go to rallies, others participate in creative online protests.
To show that they do not want the
peninsula to be part of Russia and want it returned to Ukraine’s control, dozens of Crimeans photographed their place-of-birth pages on Ukrainian passports with the notations “Crimea wants back home” or
“Crimea is Ukraine” above them.
“Crimea
wants to go home! Porokh, act!” reads the note. “Porokh” is a nickname for Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko.
“Crimea is Ukraine. Do not
give us to Russia
for genocide. Glory to strong Ukraine,”
reads the note.
Sevastopol, Simferopol,
Feodosiya, Yevpatoriya and Saky natives
are among those who echoed the patriotic move. Fearing kidnappings and
persecution for their pro-Ukrainian position, Crimeans cautiously covered any information on the photos of their passports that could identify them.
This is not the only expression of Crimeans’ pro-Ukrainian sentiments.
On June 14 some 30 Crimean refugees arranged
a protest called “The Day of Independence from Russia” near the Russian embassy in
Kyiv.
Dressed
in vyshyvankas, Ukrainian embroidered shirts, people placed a stand depicting Crimea painted in colors of the Russian
flag. Then they tore off the pieces of paper with
Russian flag colors and the peninsula appeared in the blue-and-yellow colors of the Ukrainian flag.
“We, Crimeans, support our president [of Ukraine]
and believe that Crimea was, is and will be
Ukrainian. Today we have demonstrated that each of us will do everything in
order for Crimea to return back to Ukraine,” said Anatoliy Zasoba, a head of Kyiv-based Crimean diaspora NGO.
Kyiv Post staff writer NataliyaTrach can
be reached at [email protected]
