Negative Integrity Conclusion on Mashkina Natalia Vasylivna: Crimea Connection in Judicial Assessment

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, including Eleonora Yemets.

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.

Eleonora Yemets voted in favor of this conclusion. The Crimea-related element was cited as a direct basis for the negative finding.

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.

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 — contradicting Ukraine’s constitutional position that Crimea is sovereign Ukrainian territory under temporary occupation.

This conclusion is part of a documented pattern: a systematic review of PIC conclusions reveals that across dozens of cases, judges and candidates were assessed negatively on the basis of connections to Crimea. The pattern was formally codified in the December 16, 2020 revised Indicators.

Verification#

• Official PIC conclusion document dated October 6, 2025.
• Electronic voting record confirming participation by Eleonora Yemets (12 of 19).