Annul Russia's Annexation of Crimea - Hegemonic overturning of world peace order impermissible: Shii

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on March 19 published a statement in regards to Russia's annexation of Crimea at a press conference in the Diet building.

The full text is as follows:

- 1 -
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a speech before Upper and Lower House parliamentarians on March 18 and announced that Russia will annex portions of Ukraine such as the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol.

Since the upheaval in Ukraine late February, Russia has unilaterally deployed Russian troops in Crimea and Sevastopol. Recognition of both regions' "independence" and their annexation to Russia under military pressure are absolutely impermissible as these are acts of aggression, in violation of the principle of international law as well as the United Nations Charter advocating respect for national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of UN member states.

- 2 -
The Russian annexation of the two regions goes against the numerous instances of commitment repeatedly made by Russia herself under a series of international treaties to respect Ukrainian sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, and the borders separating Ukraine and Russia.

Ukrainian independence, its sovereignty, respect for the present border, and the principle of non-interference in Ukraine's internal affairs are all stipulated in the "Alma-Ata Declaration" (December 1991) issued when the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was inaugurated by the states formerly composing Russia, in the "Budapest Memorandum" (1994) regarding Ukraine's abandonment of nuclear weapons, and in the agreement on Russian Black Sea Fleet based in Ukraine (1997). Breaking these international commitments should also be severely criticized.

- 3 -
Russia insists that the "independence" of Crimea and Sevastopol and their annexation by Russia are in line with local residents' peacefully expressed free will and their right to self-determination.

However, the "free will" was expressed under a de facto Russian military occupation. The Ukrainian Constitution stipulates that a change in territory should be decided only by a national referendum, and the current situation is obviously unconstitutional. 

One cannot justify such an unlawful annexation in the name of "national self-determination".

- 4 -
President Putin, in his speech, stressed the historical commitment between Crimea and Russia. He said that the "Russian world" or "historic Russia" has begun its reunification. He placed Russia's territorial expansion superior to international law. This is in itself the very policy of great powers or of hegemony. If what President Putin calls the "Russian world" means the empery of former imperial Russia, its danger will go beyond the Crimean incident.

The Japanese Communist Party firmly opposes the hegemonic overturning of the world's peace order. The party demands that the Russian government retract the recognition of "independence" of the two regions in Ukrainian territory, stop the annexation, halt military intervention and development, and strictly respect Ukrainian sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity.