While European politicians compete with each other in the search for an optimal algorithm of softening, or even lifting, of sanctions on Russia, the Kremlin spins the flywheel of repression in the occupied and annexed Crimea. The Kremlin believes that the West accepted de facto the Russian status of Crimea. Some discomfort emerged in relations with the United States, where instead of fullfilling Trump's election claims for revision of the sanctions regime, a very different approach appeared – the sanctions must be maintained.
However, some optimism is added to Moscow by formation of Russian-German-Iranian cooperation on the level of the interested companies for supply of German power equipment, as it would be Iranian one, to Crimea to bypass sanctions. Last year the Russian company "RosTeh" and the German company "Siemens" failed to bring turbines to Crimea for future thermal power plants, as it would mean problems for the German company because of violation of the sanctions regime. Now, it seems, they found another scheme. Based on this, the Kremlin thinks that money is a universal priority for Western businesses and policies.
The approach "business as usual" continues to be an incentive not only for businessmen but also for a number of politicians who disregard human rights and are ready to close eyes on Russia's actions in Crimea – the occupied territory, which is missing in the Minsk process, in the Normandy format. This provided and further provides Russia for the possibility to fabricate cases against civil society activists, against the indigenous people of the Crimean Tatars, journalists and experts who disagree with the policy of Moscow. Russian FSS acts in Crimea with the methods of 1930-s of the NKVD of the USSR. In this Memorandum, the facts of persecution are collected which are fixed by human rights organizations.
Our colleagues from the Center "NOMOS" Dmitrii Styblikov and Alexei Bessarabov, who worked in the Sevastopol office of the Center and edited the magazine "Black Sea Security", became the victims of repressions. They've been illegally detained by Russian FSS in the Crimean prison for almost 4 months. Vladimir Dudka, Alexei Stognii, Gleb Shablii, Evgenii Panov, Redwan Suleimanov, Andrei Zahtei are also under investigation of the case of the so-called "Ukrainian saboteurs".
The Kremlin has also expanded the use of punitive psychiatry. In addition to Ilmi Umerov's case of forced psychiatric examination in February, Muslum Aliyev, Vadim Siruk, Enver Bekirov, Emir-Usein Kuku, Arsen Dzhepparov, Refat Alimov, Ramsey Memetov and Enver Mamutov were also forced to undergo a psychiatric examination. On February, 22, 2017 Rustem Ismailov and Aider Saledinov were also sent for psychiatric examination.
Thus, the behavior of the Kremlin is becoming increasingly impudent and strengthening of the sanctions regime must be a response to that!
