Negative Integrity Conclusion on Mashkina Natalia Vasylivna: Crimea Connection in Judicial Assessment
🎯 Position at Time of Violation
Position: Civic advisory body embedded in Ukraine's judicial governance system
Organization: Public Integrity Council of Ukraine (ГРД)
Period: 2016 – present
📄 The Document
Context: This quote demonstrates how the PIC treats travel to post-occupation Crimea as crossing an international border with 'temporarily occupied territories,' implicitly recognizing Russian jurisdiction by treating these as foreign territory requiring border crossings rather than domestic travel within Ukraine.
⚖️ Why This Is a Violation
📄 Full Details
What Happened#
On October 6, 2025, the Public Integrity Council approved a negative integrity conclusion on Mashkina Natalia Vasylivna (Машкіна Наталя Василівна), a candidate for a position at Appellate court. The conclusion was adopted by 12 of 19 members.
The PIC treated the judge’s numerous trips to temporarily occupied territories after Crimea’s annexation (2015-2017) as integrity risks and grounds for negative conclusion. By characterizing these post-occupation travels to Crimea as creating risks for judicial independence and demonstrating disrespectful attitude toward civic consensus, the PIC implicitly recognized Russian control over the peninsula.
The Crimea-related element was cited as a direct basis for the negative conclusion.
The Crimea Connection#
According to information available in the judge’s file, she together with her son after the annexation of Crimea and occupation of part of Donbas traveled to temporarily occupied territories: during 2015 - 14 times, during 2016 - 23 times, during 2017 - 14 times. Also the judge repeatedly crossed the state border with temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine as a driver.
This quote demonstrates how the PIC treats travel to post-occupation Crimea as crossing an international border with ‘’temporarily occupied territories,’’ implicitly recognizing Russian jurisdiction by treating these as foreign territory requiring border crossings rather than domestic travel within Ukraine.
Context#
The Public Integrity Council was established in 2016 as part of post-2014 judicial reform in Ukraine. Its mandate was to assist in vetting judges and judicial candidates based on integrity and professional ethics. While formally an advisory body, its conclusions carried significant weight in qualification proceedings and could directly affect judicial careers.
Under Ukrainian law, Crimea is a temporarily occupied territory under the Law on Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Citizens and the Legal Regime of the Temporarily Occupied Territory (2014). The Constitution of Ukraine affirms Crimea as an integral part of Ukraine whose status cannot be altered without an all-Ukrainian referendum.
By treating Crimea-related connections as integrity risks within a formal assessment framework, the PIC applies an operational logic that treats Crimea as Russian-administered territory — reproducing the same premise that was formally codified in the December 16, 2020 revised Indicators.
Voters#
Verification#
- Official PIC conclusion document dated October 6, 2025, available on the Council’s public website.
- Electronic voting record confirming the vote count and participating members.
🔎 Evidence
- Official Public Integrity Council conclusion on Mashkina Natalia Vasylivna (Машкіна Наталя Василівна), dated October 6, 2025. document
- Electronic voting record appended to the conclusion, confirming the vote (12 of 19). document
- Archived copy of Official Public Integrity Council conclusion on Mashkina Natalia Vasylivna (Машкіна Наталя Василівна), dated October 6, 2025. archive