President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held the first meeting with the newly appointed Permanent Representative of the Head of State to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea Tamila Tasheva. The meeting was also attended by Deputy Permanent Representative of the President to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea Denys Chystikov, Head of the Crimea Platform Support Service Maria Tomak, First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Emine Dzhaparova and Deputy Head of the Office of the President Ihor Zhovkva.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed with the participants the mood of Ukrainian citizens in the Russian-occupied Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, the prospects for the liberation of the peninsula and the issue of resistance to the occupation.
"It is important for us to understand the mood of the people in the occupied Crimea and Sevastopol. After all, we realize that active and caring citizens of Ukraine on the peninsula will be our mainstay during the liberation of Crimea from occupation. We must support them," the President stressed.
According to him, in addition to the work aimed at increasing international political support for deoccupation, the first thing to think about is the adoption of additional laws and regulations that help ensure the rights of Ukrainian citizens in Crimea.
Tamila Tasheva spoke about the activities of the President's Permanent Mission aimed at maintaining contact with Ukrainian citizens on the peninsula who are protesting against the war in one way or another and expressing their solidarity with the mainland of Ukraine. She mentioned some high-profile cases of persecution of activists.
"We have to keep in touch with these people. They should feel that we see and appreciate these signals of solidarity from the occupied territory," she said.
In addition, the participants of the meeting discussed the prospects for the development of the initiative of the President of Ukraine "Crimea Platform". In particular, holding international events in August 2022, which will bring together participants of the inaugural summit of the Crimea Platform and potentially expand the geography of states that support the declaration of the Crimea Platform.
Tamila Tasheva also handed over to Volodymyr Zelenskyy a letter from the Deputy Speaker of the Crimean Tatar People's Mejlis Nariman Dzhelialov who was arrested after participating in the inaugural summit of the Crimea Platform in 2021. Now the occupiers are holding him captive.
In the letter, Nariman Dzhelialov, in particular, thanked the President of Ukraine for signing a law introducing social and legal protection for political prisoners, prisoners of war and civilian hostages.