Last week in this space we focused on the 24 Ukrainian sailors captured near the Kerch Strait by Russia back in November of last year – a deliberate and dangerous violation of international maritime law – and the fact that as of March 5 they had been held for 100 days. On the occasion of that distressing milestone, the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG) wrote: “Russia’s behavior was condemned by the international community, but the sanctions thus far have been ‘like a pinprick to an elephant,’ according to Nikolai Polozov, the coordinator of the lawyers representing the 24 POWs.”
This week, KHPG reported on “an important first”: a report by a United Nations body forthrightly called the 24 servicemen prisoners of war. “In its first quarterly report since Russia’s attack on three Ukrainian naval ships near Crimea, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has clearly stated that Russia is in breach of international humanitarian law and that the 24 Ukrainians seized on 25 November 2018 are prisoners of war. This is the first time that such an international body has spelled this out, demolishing Russia’s attempts to deny that the 24 men are POWs, and highlighting Russia’s continuing violations in trying to foist criminal charges upon the men,” the eminent human rights group underscored.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) opened its “Report on the human rights situation in Ukraine 16 November 2018 to 15 February 2019” with a section on violations of international humanitarian law, in which it is noted: “by virtue of the continued occupation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, an international armed conflict continues to exist between the two states in Crimea and international humanitarian law continues to apply there. As such, a single hostile encounter between the armed forces or assimilated armed units of two sovereign states, as the 25 November 2018 incident, suffices to trigger the application of international humanitarian law, irrespective of the pre-existence of an armed conflict.”
Furthermore, the OHCHR does not buy Russia’s denials that the captive sailors are POWs. It points out that “based on the provisions of international humanitarian law, the 24 detained crew members could be considered as prisoners of war and protected by the Third Geneva Convention. In any case, they shall enjoy the status of a prisoner of war until a competent tribunal determines otherwise.” KHPG comments that, though the OHCHR was cautious in its language and left the determination of the sailors’ status to some unnamed “competent tribunal,” it went farther than the earlier resolution adopted in January by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which KHPG characterized as “downright timid.”
Also this week, Olha Oprysko, daughter of senior seaman Andriy Oprysko of the Nikopol, and Natalia Mokriak, mother of Lt. Roman Mokriak, commander of the Berdyansk, were at the United Nations in New York to speak about the plight of the men held captive by Russia and to underline that they are indeed POWs. They held an informative press conference within the framework of the 63rd session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women to make their case to the world.
In the meantime, KHPG is encouraging the public to write letters to the POWs. “Getting any letter is an important message to them – and to Moscow – that they are not forgotten,” the KHPG explains, while adding, “Letters need to be in Russian, unfortunately, and will be passed by the censor, so please avoid any mention of their cases, politics, etc.” Readers interested in expressing their support for the sailors may look at KHPG’s website (http://khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1552425883) for the men’s names and suggestions on how to send such messages. It’s the least we can do for these brave POWs.