The latest sign that relations between the U.S. and Russia are souring came on Thursday, as the Trump administration blasted the Kremlin for drafting Crimea citizens into the Russian Army.
Pulling no punches, Jim Gilmore, U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), called the continued conscription of Crimeans “a violation of the obligations that the Russian Federation owes under its subscription to the Geneva Convention [and] a violation of international norms and behavior and commitments that the Russian Federation has made and now violates.”
In denouncing the conscription, Gilmore underscored the U.S.’s unwavering position that Russia disguised its military seizure of Crimea with what he called a “sham referendum” in March of 2014. He noted that the United Nations General Assembly condemned the Russian annexation of Crimea in a strongly-worded resolution that is still on the books.
“Crimea is part of Ukraine, despite the Russian Government’s efforts to pretend otherwise,” declared Gilmore.
According to a report from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in August 2019, 18,000 Crimean citizens had been conscripted into the army of the Russian Federation under threat of criminal prosecution.
“The Russian government reportedly conscripted 2,600 individuals into its armed forces in the fall of 2019,” said Gilmore, “and plans to conscript 3,300 more this spring, which would bring the total number conscripted by Russia to nearly 24,000 citizens of Crimea.”
Gilmore made his remarks in Vienna at the weekly meeting of The Council of the OSCE, an organization of 57 nations that deal with arms control, freedom of the press, human rights, and terrorism.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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