Afrasianet - Zakaria Shahin - When Volodymyr Zelensky launched his initiative to hold the "Crimean Platform" conference, it was aimed at putting the island issue on the international agenda permanently, but observers believe that one of the most important reasons that push Ukraine towards organizing the "Crimean Platform" conference is the decline in the positions of a number of countries on the Crimean issue, after it was the basis of broad political and economic sanctions imposed on Russia.

According to a number of Ukrainian officials, the holding of the "Crimean Platform" international conference is the greatest event in its history, as the conference coincides with the 30th anniversary of Ukraine's independence on August 24, and aims, according to the Foreign Ministry, to urge countries not to recognize the annexation of Crimea to Russia.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba believes that the platform will correct this mistake, and that the circle of countries participating in the platform will expand in the future, but what happened is quite the opposite. The positions of a number of countries on the issue of Crimea have retreated after it was the basis of broad political and economic sanctions imposed on Russia.

The biggest examples of this decline are the positions of Germany and France, two key EU countries, and the so-called Normandy Quartet for a settlement in eastern Ukraine. In a remarkable statement, the adviser in the Ukrainian presidential office says that "Germany abandoned Ukraine in favor of Russia after withstanding it for 7 years.

" He explained that "Western countries in general are concerned about the growing influence of China, and therefore are ready to negotiate with Russia," and according to analysts, there are several factors for this decline in positions, the most important of which is the West's quest to prevent any possible military alliance of China with Russia. These and other factors may explain the controversy over the size and level of participation in the "Crimean platform", which was determined by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry at the time at about

44 bodies, including the heads of 9 countries: Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Moldova, Slovenia and Finland. According to the ministry, participants include: the President of the European Council, the Prime Ministers of Romania, Georgia, Croatia and Sweden, the Foreign Ministers of Turkey, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Ireland, Denmark, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Norway and North Macedonia, the defense ministers of the United Kingdom and Portugal, as well as a personal envoy of the US president.

Writer and political analyst Dmytro Voronkov believes that "the quantitative indicator is encouraging, but much more important is not the list of countries but the level at which they will be represented." He explained that "until recently, major countries did not determine the level of their representatives, such as Turkey, Germany, France and the United States, and this indicates that the issue has accurate calculations, and explains the reluctance of many countries of the world to participate, to be limited in the end to supporting parties already, most of which are within the framework of the European Union bloc, and there is nothing new in them," he said.

It seems that the countries that were quick to heed Ukraine's appeal are those that claim that there is a threat to it from Russia. Russia considers talking about Crimea a red line that cannot be approached, as the Russian Foreign Ministry says that "Russia

sees the strategy to end the occupation of Crimea announced by Kiev as an unacceptable threat, and the participation of any country in the activities of the Crimean platform is an infringement on the Russian territorial integrity.

" Minister Sergey Lavrov describes the stage as a "gathering of witches", using the Russian sarcastic term "shabash" that refers to the meetings of night celebrations of witches or fortunetellers, saying that "the West's position on Crimea is flawed, shameful and offends the island, after the inhabitants of the peninsula have expressed their will.

" Many believe that the platform's calls and cries are resonant, considering that the issue of Crimea is primarily Russian after the population of Crimea, the majority of whom are Russian-speakers, made up their mind, with 95% of them voting for Salah to join the Russian Federation in a referendum held on March 16.

The Kiev authorities as well as Western countries considered the referendum illegitimate, while Russia stressed that the Crimean referendum clearly expressed the will of the inhabitants of the peninsula and did not violate international law. Speaking in November, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that after the change of power in Kiev, Russian forces had surrounded Ukrainian troops deployed in Crimea in order to prevent bloodshed and allow the region's residents to express their position on determining their future.

Later, protesters in eastern Ukraine occupied administrative headquarters and state institutions, proclaiming the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics and electing "people's

conservatives". Donetsk and Lugansk declared independence on 12 May, following the results of a referendum held in eastern Ukraine on 11 May. The head of Crimea's social council, Alexander Furmanchuk, says nuclear war will break out "immediately" if any attempts are made to return Crimea to Ukrainian control.

In an interview with the agency "Novosti", Formanchuk warned that "any attempt to seize Crimea and return it to Ukraine will immediately escalate into a global nuclear conflict, and Russia will not forgive it.

"Formanchuk's comments came in response to former CIA Director David Petraeus saying about the possible recapture of Crimea, which had returned to Russell. Formanchuk said the scenarios outlined by the former CIA director "involve suicide."

He added that Washington and Kiev should remember Russia's reaction to the October 2022 attack on the Kerch Strait bridge linking Crimea to Russia.

"After that attack, high-precision strikes began on critical infrastructure facilities in Ukraine, Crimea is Russia's untouchable territory, if they try to return it to Ukraine, the United States will be responsible for unleashing a thermonuclear military conflict," he added .Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry called repeated Ukrainian statements about regaining control of Crimea, which Moscow

annexed to its territory in 2014, "fantastic." Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a press conference in Moscow: "Kiev is promoting delusional ideas about its intention to retake Crimea."

In conclusion, Kiev's illusions collide with the changes that resulted after the Russian special military operation, where Ukrainian losses accumulated to the point of collapse despite the growing pumping of the United States of America and with it NATO, where any observer of events can clearly see that the West, although it pushes the war to the last Ukrainian, knows that the situation in the confrontation with Russia is hopeless and that sooner or later it will push Ukraine to search for a way out of the impasse that it has put in place.

Perhaps American history is replete with many examples of American abandonment of its allies at the moment of need.