New Delhi: Just as Donald Trump was in India on his first ever visit as the US president, the Indian capital was also hosting a rare duo of visitors – two senior officials of the Crimean government who have been sanctioned by Washington.
Russia’s annexation of Crimea, which is termed as ‘reunification’ by Moscow, had been one of the key reasons for the deterioration of ties with the West from March 2014. The United States, European Union, Canada and Australia followed with sanctions against officials and businesses, which have been in force since then.
The two senior officials were deputy chairman of the council of ministers of the Republic of Crimea Georgy Muradov and minister of finance Irina Kiviko, diplomatic sources confirmed. The Times of India had first reported that the high-level Crimean delegation was to visit India.
As part of the third round of sanctions, the US treasury department targeted 17 “Ukrainian separatists” in 2016. Both Muradov and Kiviko were included in the list of category of officials who were “asserting governmental authority over a part or region of Ukraine without the authorisation of the Government of Ukraine”. The Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control drew on executive order 13660, signed by Barack Obama in March 2014, which blocks property assets of designated individuals and their entry into the US.
Incidentally, this executive order, which enacts national emergency with regard to Ukraine, has to be signed annually to be in force. The latest extension for executive order 13660 was signed away by Trump on February 25. It was the last day of his 36-hour-long visit to India, as well as the first day of the Indian sojourn of the two sanctioned Crimean officials.
After Crimea had been declared as a part of Russia in 2014, then Indian national security advisor Shiv Shankar Menon had said that there were “legitimate” Russian interests in Ukraine. The same day, the MEA’s official statement had stated that solution for “Ukraine’s internal differences is found in a manner that meets the aspirations of all sections of Ukraine’s population”.
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A few days later in March 2014, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin had mentioned that a political and diplomatic solution should protect “the legitimate interests of all countries in the region and ensured long term peace and stability in Europe and beyond”.
India has tried to keep a balanced position on Crimea – which was helpful for Russia and also acknowledged by Putin.
During the current trip of the two Crimean officials on February 25-26, diplomatic sources and the Indian side were keen to emphasise that this was an “unofficial programme” . “There is no meeting with Indian government officials have been organised for any delegation of Crimea,” they said.
According to diplomatic sources, Muradov and Kiviko are on a “familiarisation visit” in India, with a largely cultural and trade context.
The underlining of the “unofficial” nature of the trip harked back to December 2014, when leader of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov surfaced at a five-star hotel in Delhi for a signing agreement. Akysonov had travelled with the Russian president’s official delegation to India, but claimed that his trip had been of a “private character”.
It had turned into a diplomatic incident, with the Ukraine president criticising India for allowing the visit. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs had stated that it was not aware of Aksyonov’s trip to Delhi.
The Crimean leader’s presence had also created a buzz as it took place just a month before Barack Obama was scheduled to arrive in India to become the first US president to be made the chief guest of India’s Republic Day parade.