![\"\"](\"http:\/\/qtmm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/dzhemilev_cnn.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nGiving Crimea up to Russia, he said, would be a violation of 1994\u2019s Budapest Agreement in which Russia and Western powers guaranteed Ukraine\u2019s territorial integrity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt would be a great tragedy for all Crimean people \u2013 not only for Crimean Tatars but also for ethnic Ukrainians and tens of thousands of ethnic Russians \u2013 who do not accept the Russian citizenship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia says over 95% of Crimeans voted in favor of joining Russia in a referendum held among the presence of Russian troops, but Dzhemilev said it was hardly a representative vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe official authorities claim that officially 82% of Crimean population voted; but in fact we do have evidence that only 32.4% of Crimean people voted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said it was based on data that was \u201cquite accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tatars, who he said represent 14% of the Crimean population, boycotted the vote; Dzhemilev said only 0.5% of Tatars voted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dzhemilev had a chance to plead his case in a conversation with the Russian president himself, Vladimir Putin, before Crimea held its referendum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe had half an hour talk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI told Mister Putin that we do not accept this planned, forthcoming referendum, because it\u2019s an absurd referendum under an occupational regime, and this regime contradicts some elementary, basic norms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The future of any particular Ukrainian territory cannot be decided locally, he said, without agreement of the rest of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Western countries have attempted to punish Russia for its actions \u2013 and prevent further aggression \u2013 by levying travel bans and asset freezes on some Russian and Ukrainian officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dzhemilev described those efforts as mere pin pricks, and said the sanctions should be \u201cmore effective.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Would things be different, Amanpour asked, had Ukraine not given up the nuclear weapons left on its territory after the fall of the Soviet Union?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Absolutely, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBecause it\u2019s very dangerous to act [lawlessly] against nuclear powers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNow there\u2019s a talk in the parliament in order to apply all efforts for Ukraine to become, again, nuclear power, no matter how much is needed. I\u2019m confident that if we were a nuclear power, that wouldn\u2019t have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n