“Why history has tried to take Crimea for centuries: myths and true facts about the peninsula” – this was the title of an event organized by Ukraine Crisis Media Center as part of the project “Strengthening Information Resilience in Ukraine” in partnership with the International Practitioners` Partnership Network (Estonia) and supported by the European Union. The participants discussed the topic of the conducted research– Crimea-related pro-Moscow myths, which may no longer prevail, but still occasionally circulate.
The meeting’s moderator, Candidate of Historical Sciences Ihor Stambol, explained how the research was conducted. Presenting a demonstration video of the information campaign, he drew attention to the fact that most pro-Moscow narratives are associated with the imperial period. They claim that the empire contributed to most of the achievements of the territories where it ruled.
“Another myth is that there was nothing there before the Muscovites. The topic of Crimea is special, because most of Ukraine’s ancient history is based on the extent to which Crimea was a part of European civilization. That’s why, while working on this video, we tried to find something most significant. For example, that moment about Cyril, who is also related to the creation of our modern writing system. I checked this moment several times, because on the one hand it looked very mythical, but it really happened in his life,” the historian explained.
Yevhen Bondarenko, Head of the Information Support Department at the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, noted that we should be able to identify myths created by Russian propaganda, imposing false mythology, and we should understand the lack of information regarding certain historical aspects, certain knowledge about the Crimean peninsula.
“We very often overestimate Russian propaganda, thinking that some myths were invented by Russia itself, and very often they simply result from insufficient work in a particular area. I always like to give the example of 2022, when the large-scale invasion began, and we actively monitored certain changes in narratives, and public attitudes towards the Crimean peninsula. And we saw a very interesting trend. At one point, when people began to write publicly their emotional reactions to the protests in Kherson and Melitopol, they would ask “Where was Crimea in 2014?” Then we came up with a very logical communication. We said that starting from February 26 and throughout March and April there were mass protests and resistance in various cities of the peninsula, but then Russia used the same technology as in the newly occupied territories – it began to kidnap activists who coordinated the resistance, detain people, threaten. If we ask people what they know about the first civilian killed by Russia in this Russian-Ukrainian war, Reshat Ametov, who went on a one-man picket on the square in Simferopol on March 3, was abducted, and two weeks later his body was found 50 kilometers from Simferopol, we’ll most likely get the answer that almost no one knows about it,” Yevhen Bondarenko admitted.
Nadzhiye Ametova, a journalist of the Krymski novyny/Qırım media news agency suggested analyzing not only the established myths, but also the narratives that the Russian Federation has imposed recently.
“Even when I came to live in Kyiv, I met people who expressed those myths. In particular, they told me that Khrushchev had given Crimea to Ukraine, and it used to be Russia. I had to explain that it was no gift at all, that Crimea was economically and culturally very close to Ukraine. We should tell people that it was the Crimean Khanate, tell them about the first annexation in 1883. Unfortunately, Ukrainians didn’t know these small historical facts. I do hope that this is changing now, but I think that we now must work not only on historical myths, but also on those that Russia is now trying to impose,” the journalist said.
It is very hard to counter Russian propaganda without resources. The question is where a country that has been fighting off the Russian invasion for three years can get them. According to Andriy Shchekun, a representative of the Regional Council of Ukrainians of Crimea, journalist and public figure, it is quite possible to find such resources.
“We have quite powerful partners, and we have the Crimean Platform, which is more than 60 countries that signed a unity on unification and opposition to the Russian Federation regarding the de-occupation of Crimea. This is our potential resource, which we need to work with and involve in our joint struggle for the de-occupation of Crimea,” said Andriy Shchekun.