Nikolai Polozov: the Kremlin can take as many hostages as ...

Nikolai Polozov. photo: Dmytro Oleinyk, apostrophe.ua 

2019/09/26 - 01:07 •Political prisoners

The euphoria from the prisoner trade between Ukraine and Russia which took part on 7 September has slightly worn off in Ukraine. The 35 Ukrainians who back domestic – 24 sailors and eleven political prisoners – are undergoing rehabilitation, giving interviews, the place they depict the torture they had been subjected to for the sake of extracting "confessions," and getting lower back to general existence. however discussions on how the alternate grew to become viable, what fee Ukraine paid for getting lower back its residents, and how to get back the 86 who nevertheless continue to be in Russian captivity are nonetheless ongoing.

Giving wonderful insight for the dialogue is Nikolai Polozov, a Russian human rights legal professional who changed into chosen via the Ukrainian executive to coordinate the work of the group of lawyers representing the hobbies of 24 Ukrainian Navy sailor POWs captured after a Russian attack in the Black Sea. Polozov, who had earlier defended a few other Ukrainian political prisoners, including the noted Nadiya Savchenko, informed many Ukrainian media what were the key drivers for this unlock and what are its drawbacks. We translated essentially the most crucial materials.

The case of the sailors become the locomotive for the alternate

Polozov believes that the case of the 24 Ukrainian Navy sailor POWs changed into key to the exchange. youngsters Ukrainian residents began being illegally imprisoned through Russia ranging from 2014, it were the Ukrainian sailors captured in November 2018 while making an attempt to reach their base within the Azov Sea, who induced a coordinated campaign to free them from the Ukrainian government, with the president and ministers being concerned.

"Over 5 years, the work in the situations of the Ukrainian political prisoners become very sporadic: the human rights activists labored in some places, the state – in others, however a united method changed into absent," Polozov advised Apostrophe.ua.

It changed into very vital to have a united method and place to create mighty international force on the Russian authorities, Polozov noted.

"My cause changed into that Russian courts will now not serve justice in these sorts of instances, they'll rubberstamp whatever the Kremlin tells them. hence, we necessary to create the circumstances to make the Kremlin make the correct determination."

within the single strategy, Polozov coordinated the prison moves in Russia, the group of 31 legal professionals pursued the road that the sailors have been prisoners of war who enjoy the protections of the Third Geneva conference, engaged international companions and coordinating actions with the Ministry of protection, Ministry of overseas Affairs, security service, Ministry of Justice. It became this strategy, Polozov asserts, that ended in the UN overseas Maritime Tribunal ruling on 25 might also 2019 that Russia should free up the sailors and ships.

The 24 sailors are still below trial in Russia

After the Tribunal ruling, the negotiation manner sped up, Polozov told on air of Espreso.tv.

"despite the rhetoric of the Russian authorities that the selections of the Tribunal carry no penalties, they bear in mind the consequences of not implementing them very smartly. These are sanctions, prohibitions on ships getting into ports, prohibitions on refueling. due to the fact that that Russia is a maritime vigour and sells timber and oil, it began to seek alternatives to put into effect the determination of the tribunal without in fact satisfying it."

on account that the choice of the tribunal does not restrict Russia from continuing the trial, during which it accuses the sailors of violating the Russian border, the Russians recommended that they have been able to exchange the safety measure and permit the sailors to move home to Ukraine, however in a method that they'd nevertheless participate within the trial. So, at the moment, they're nonetheless beneath trial and withstand six years in penitentiary, but had been launched to Ukraine beneath the own assure of Ukrainian Ombudswoman Liudmyla Denysova.

even if Russia will return the ships it seized within the attack, as the Tribunal dominated, continues to be uncertain. The Russian prosecutors can proceed the case or drop it, every thing depends upon the negotiations. besides the fact that children the sailors have been physically freed, many questions continue to be each regarding the sailors and the ships.

Nikolai Polozov with the Ukrainian Navy sailor POWs. picture from Polozov's fb web page

Nothing prevents Russia from taking an infinite variety of Ukrainian hostages to make use of as bargaining chips

may still Ukraine have just waited for Russia to agree to the determination of the Tribunal, as it did within the Arctic break of day case when the entire sailors were amnestied and launched, and The Netherlands received a couple of hundreds of thousands of bucks after arbitration and the seized ships, as an alternative of organizing a large alternate for shady figures?

there have been two ideas regarding the tribunal resolution, Polozov advised on air of Espreso.tv.

the primary one became of the hawks, the "birthday celebration of struggle," shared by using the outdated Ukrainian government of ex-President Petro Poroshenko. They maintained that if the tribunal adopted a call, it would had been pushed via.

the brand new authorities of Zelenskyy's govt adopted yet another paradigm – that negotiations have been necessary. This paradigm became one that applicable Russia: technically, it allowed complying with the Tribunal's resolution and warding off sanctions.

"no person invited me to take part in the negotiations. For me, the most vital issue is to bodily save the citizens of Ukraine… but this determination can have political penalties. I consider why Zelenskyy adopted this theory – on account of the deserve to get short-time period effects. Switching from war of words to negotiations gave results within the short-term viewpoint. however I'm now not able to say the way it will impact the mid- and long-term views. …

in my opinion, the method against the Kremlin of the final five years was constructive on the overseas affairs track. President Poroshenko and his team constructed a robust coalition of western partners, aiming for the lengthy-term point of view. This had its drawbacks – the Kremlin refused to seek advice from Poroshenko, the manner of liberating hostages became very complex. Now the ice has been damaged, hostages are freed, but time will display what penalties will observe in foreign affairs, even if there can be some weak point concerning Russia.

If we're talking about the sailors, an choice scenario may have appeared like this. The Tribunal made its ruling, following which Ukraine places ahead its ultimatum and with the assist of western partners begins pressuring Russia with sanctions. Sanctions would have impacted Russia, these are certain sea-linked sanctions. Russia is a maritime state, plus it has a lot of infrastructure projects at sea, including Nord flow 2, which may have additionally doubtlessly been sanctioned."

Russia's intention: to put the question of Crimea to relaxation once and for all

Polozov cited that the Kremlin's number one purpose is to place the query of Crimea for rest as soon as and for all.

"We don't know how the negotiations are ongoing, which circumstances are being put forward, what the Russian facet wishes in trade. in my opinion, it's fully integral to alternate someone for somebody, but when we alternate somebody for whatever, for some political preferences – here we should see whether Ukrainian interests will undergo from such negotiations. however we should store americans, and naturally, the individuals are looking forward to it very a great deal.

but right here we face a significant difficulty. Let's say that Putin now has reached an settlement with Zelenskyy and gave lower back 35 people, then he'll provide lower back 113 individuals [the number of remaining Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia voiced by Liudmyla Denysova – Ed.] but what prevents him from getting ten instances greater hostages in Crimea day after today? In Russia proper, if we brush aside occupied Crimea, a whole lot of thousands of Ukrainian residents come to talk over with their loved ones, to earn funds, and so forth. that you would be able to grab several dozen individuals and declare them terrorists, extremists, saboteurs. That's why this system can, lamentably, be countless, and the Kremlin can invariably take hostages after which exchange them with Ukraine and the West," he shared with Apostrophe.ua.

another question that issues Nikolai Polozov is why only one Crimean Tatar was in the exchange checklist if Crimean Tatars make up the vast majority of the checklist of the Ukrainian political prisoners of the Kremlin.

"what is going to happen next? There will also be several scenarios. A negative one, the place Ukraine will be forced to a bad peace on Russian phrases – with the federalization of Donbas, the remaining lack of Crimea, and so forth. probably Putin received't take any new hostages, however what lets do with folks that nonetheless continue to be within the Crimea, those that did not accept the Russian occupation, may still they simply pack their things and go? most of the Crimean Tatars took up a [pro-Ukrainian – Ed] patriotic position, should still they just lose their fatherland for the 2nd time?

I don't agree with in a good scenario. The Kremlin hasn't accomplished all these items to do respectable for Ukraine. I don't agree with in this. They hate their own individuals. Why should they like Ukrainians?"

regarding Zelenskyy's proposed changes to the constitution to lower the variety of MPs from 450 to 300

Commenting on considered one of Zelenskyy's initiatives to reduce down the variety of MPs in the Ukrainian parliament, Polozov compares the condition in Ukraine's parliament, where Zelenskyy's Servant of the individuals holds a single-party majority, with Putin's Yedinaya Rossiya in Russia talking to Espreso.tv.

"during this condition, it's very elaborate to avoid getting on the inaccurate tune which could lead to dictatorship. the fewer MPs, the less difficult it's to manage them. considering MPs had been stripped of their immunity, this means that if the authorities don't like some MP, they could force her. This reminds me of the hobbies in Russia 15-20 years in the past when Putin simply got here to vigour and started building a rigid vertical of power. It's very essential to now not fall into the tyranny we now have there [in Russia – Ed].

Is it possible to keep away from the sort of situation? sure, however most effective if different positions are represented in the parliament. So it received't be, like they are saying in Russia, that 'parliament is not a spot for discussions." here lies a significant danger. It's very easy to lose freedom. And gaining it once again is commonly expensive and painful."

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Tags: #LetMyPeopleGo, Political prisoners, Polozov, Sailors