KidzSearch Wiki

Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation

In February and March 2014, Russia invaded and annexed (or took over) the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. This event took place after the Revolution of Dignity. It is part of the wider Russo-Ukrainian conflict.

Beginning

On 22–23 February 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with security service chiefs to discuss how to save the deposed Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych. At the end of the meeting, Putin remarked that "we must start working on returning Crimea to Russia".[1] On 23 February, pro-Russian demonstrations were held in the Crimean city of Sevastopol. On 27 February, masked Russian troops without insignia[2] took over the Supreme Council (parliament) of Crimea[3][4] and captured strategic sites across Crimea, which led to the installation of the pro-Russian Sergey Aksyonov government in Crimea. This government held the Crimean status referendum, and declared Crimea's independence on 16 March 2014.[5][6] Russia formally incorporated Crimea as two Russian federal subjects—the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol on 18 March 2014.[7][8][note 1] After the event, Russia deployed more military on the peninsula and came with threats about using nuclear weapons so that Russia could keep its new power in Crimea (or solidify the new status quo on the ground).[10]

Responses

Ukraine and many other countries condemned the annexation and consider it to be a violation of international law, as well as Russian-signed agreements safeguarding the territorial integrity of Ukraine, including the 1991 Belavezha Accords that established the Commonwealth of Independent States, the 1975 Helsinki Accords, the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances and the 1997 Treaty on friendship, cooperation and partnership between the Russian Federation and Ukraine.[11][12] It led to the other members of the then G8 suspending Russia from the group[13] and then introducing a first round of sanctions against the country. The United Nations General Assembly also rejected the referendum and annexation, adopting a resolution affirming the "territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders".[14][15] The UN resolution also "underscores that the referendum [is not valid, and] cannot form the basis for any alteration of the status of [Crimea]" and called upon all states and international organizations not to recognize or to imply the recognition of Russia's annexation.[15] In 2016, the UN General Assembly reaffirmed non-recognition of the annexation and condemned "the temporary occupation of part of the territory of Ukraine—the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol".[16][17]

The Russian government opposes the "annexation" label, with Putin defending the referendum as complying with the principle of self-determination of peoples.[18][19]

Names

The conflict has many names.

In Russia, it is known as

  • accession of Crimea to the Russian Federation (Russian: Присоединение Крыма к Российской Федерации),
  • the return of Crimea (Russian: За возвращение Крыма) and the reunification of Crimea.[20] In Ukraine, the names are also known as the
  • Temporary occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol by Russia (Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 293: attempt to index local 'data_module' (a boolean value).),
  • the illegal occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the fall of Crimea and the invasion of Crimea.[21][22][23]

Notes

  1. ↑ The treaty between Russia and pro-Russian Aksyonov government of Crimea, signed on that date, specified that Crimea shall be considered incorporated into Russia since the date of signing. The document entered into force on 1 April 2014,[9] but pending that was applied provisionally since very signing.[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Putin describes secret operation to seize Crimea". Yahoo News. 8 March 2015. https://news.yahoo.com/putin-describes-secret-operation-seize-crimea-212858356.html. Retrieved 24 March 2015. 
  2. ↑ Weaver, Courtney (2015-03-15). "Putin was ready to put nuclear weapons on alert in Crimea crisis". Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/41873ed2-cb60-11e4-8ad9-00144feab7de. Retrieved 2022-01-23. 
  3. ↑ Simon Shuster (10 March 2014). "Putin's Man in Crimea Is Ukraine's Worst Nightmare". Time. https://time.com/19097/putin-crimea-russia-ukraine-aksyonov/. Retrieved 8 March 2015. "Before dawn on Feb. 27, at least two dozen heavily armed men stormed the Crimean parliament building and the nearby headquarters of the regional government, bringing with them a cache of assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades. A few hours later, Aksyonov walked into the parliament and, after a brief round of talks with the gunmen, began to gather a quorum of the chamber's lawmakers.". 
  4. ↑ De Carbonnel, Alissa (13 March 2014). "RPT-INSIGHT-How the separatists delivered Crimea to Moscow". Reuters. https://reuters.com/article/ukraine-crisis-russia-aksyonov-idINL6N0M93AH20140313. Retrieved 8 March 2015. "Only a week after gunmen planted the Russian flag on the local parliament, Aksyonov and his allies held another vote and declared parliament was appealing to Putin to annex Crimea". 
  5. ↑ Ilya Somin (6 May 2014). "Russian government agency reveals fraudulent nature of the Crimean referendum results". The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/05/06/russian-government-agency-reveals-fraudulent-nature-of-the-crimean-referendum-results/. 
  6. ↑ Про дострокове припинення повноважень Верховної Ради Автономної Республіки Крим [On the dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea]. Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (in українська). 15 March 2014.
  7. ↑ "Four years since Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea". Government.no. 14 March 2018. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  8. ↑ "Putin reveals secrets of Russia's Crimea takeover plot". BBC News. 9 March 2015. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31796226. Retrieved 9 March 2015. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Договор между Российской Федерацией и Республикой Крым о принятии в Российскую Федерацию Республики Крым и образовании в составе Российской Федерации новых субъектов [Treaty between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Crimea on the acceptance of the Republic of Crimea into Russian Federation and education of new subjects of the Russian Federation] (in русский). Kremlin.ru. 18 March 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2016. (and a PDF copy of signed document)
  10. ↑ ""Russia Threatens Nuclear Strikes Over Crimea"". The Diplomat. 11 July 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
  11. ↑ Oleksandr Turchynov (20 March 2014). Декларація "Про боротьбу за звільнення України" [Declaration "On the struggle for the liberation of Ukraine"] (in українська). Parliament of Ukraine. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  12. ↑ Fred Dews (19 March 2014). NATO Secretary-General: Russia's Annexation of Crimea Is Illegal and Illegitimate. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brookings-now/2014/03/19/nato-secretary-general-russias-annexation-of-crimea-is-illegal-and-illegitimate/. Retrieved 8 March 2015. 
  13. ↑ Bruno Waterfield; Peter Dominiczak; David Blair; The Daily Telegraph (24 March 2014). "Russia Temporarily Kicked Out of G8 Club of Rich Countries". Business Insider. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  14. ↑ "UN General Assembly adopts resolution affirming Ukraine's territorial integrity". China Central Television. 28 March 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "United Nations A/RES/68/262 General Assembly" (PDF). United Nations. 1 April 2014. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  16. ↑ "A/RES/71/205 – E – A/RES/71/205". undocs.org.
  17. ↑ "General Assembly Adopts 50 Third Committee Resolutions, as Diverging Views on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity Animate Voting – Meetings Coverage and Press Releases". United Nations.
  18. ↑ Mike Collett-White; Ronald Popeski (16 March 2014). Crimeans vote over 90 percent to quit Ukraine for Russia. https://news.yahoo.com/crimea-vote-joining-russia-moscow-wields-u-n-024050097--finance.html. Retrieved 8 March 2015. 
  19. ↑ Boris N. Mamlyuk (6 July 2015). "The Ukraine Crisis, Cold War II, and International Law". The German Law Journal. SSRN 2627417.
  20. ↑ "Минобороны России учредило медаль "За возвращение Крыма"" [Ministry of Defense of Russia established a medal "For the Return of Crimea"] (in русский). Gazeta.ru. March 25, 2014. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
  21. ↑ "Указ Президента України №117/2021". Archived from the original on 24 March 2021.
  22. ↑ "Seven Years of Illegal Occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea". 4 March 2021.
  23. ↑ "Bitter Crimean Anniversary – Victims of Russian Annexation".
Retrieved from "https://wiki.kidzsearch.com/w/index.php?title=Annexation_of_Crimea_by_the_Russian_Federation&oldid=5264331"