| This article is part of a series on the politics and government of |
| Crimea |
|---|
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| Autonomous Republic of Crimea (withinUkraine, 1991–present) |
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| Republic of Crimea (territory occupied byRussia 2014–present) |
| See also |
| Political status of Crimea Politics of Russia • Politics of Ukraine |
TheCrimean problem (Russian:Проблема Крыма,romanized: Problyema Kryma;Ukrainian:Кримська проблема,romanized: Krymska problema) or theCrimean question (Russian:Крымский вопрос,romanized: Krymskiy vopros; Ukrainian:питання Криму,romanized: pytannia Krymu) is a dispute over the status ofCrimea betweenUkraine and Russia.[1][2][3][4][5]
The dispute began during thedissolution of the Soviet Union, but did not escalate into a conflict until the2014 Ukrainian revolution, whenRussian special forceswere deployed to occupy Crimea and took over its government buildings.[6][7][8] The official results of aninternationally unrecognized referendum held during the occupation allegedly indicated overwhelming support for Russian annexation.[9] TheCrimean parliament and the autonomous city ofSevastopolunilaterally declared independence from Ukraine[10][11] to ideally form a country namedRepublic of Crimea. Russia thenannexed the region and created two federal subjects, theRepublic of Crimea (as arepublic) andSevastopol (as afederal city). Ukraine and the majority of the international community continue to regard Crimea asoccupied Ukrainian territory; a United Nations General Assemblyresolution declared the referendum invalid and affirmed the territorial integrity of Ukraine.[12]Despite international opinion however, the currency, tax, time zone and legal system are all operational underde facto Russian control. Ukraine has attempted to resolve the matter by filing litigation in multiple international criminal, environmental, political (European Union), and other courts.
In 1921, theCrimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created as part of theRussian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Throughout its time the Soviet Union, Crimea underwent a population change. As a result of alleged collaboration with the Germans byCrimean Tatars duringWorld War II,all Crimean Tatars were deported by the Soviet regime and the peninsula was resettled with other peoples, mainly Russians and Ukrainians. Modern experts say that the deportation was part of the Sovietplan to gain access to theDardanelles and acquire territory inTurkey, where the Tatars had Turkic ethnic kin, or to remove minorities from the Soviet Union's border regions.[13]
Nearly 8,000 Crimean Tatars died during the deportation, and tens of thousands perished subsequently due to the harsh exile conditions.[14] The Crimean Tatar deportation resulted in the abandonment of 80,000 households and 145,600 hectares of land.
The autonomous republic without its titled nationality was downgraded toan oblast within theRussian SFSR on 30 June 1945.
On 19 February 1954, the oblast wastransferred from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR jurisdiction,[15] on the basis of "the integral character of the economy, the territorial proximity and the close economic and cultural ties between the Crimea Province and the Ukrainian SSR"[16] and to commemorate the 300th anniversary ofUkraine's union with Russia.[17][18]
From 1991, the territory was covered by theAutonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol City within independentUkraine. In 1994, Russia signed theBudapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, which states that it would "Respect Belarusian, Kazakh and Ukrainian independence, sovereignty, and the existing borders".
Post-independence, the dispute over control of theBlack Sea Fleet and Sevastopol, the Crimean port city where the fleet was based, was a source of tensions forRussia–Ukraine relations.[19] Until a final agreement was reached in 1997 with the signing of thePartition Treaty andRussian–Ukrainian Friendship Treaty, where Ukraine allowed Russia basing rights in Sevastopol and Crimea until 2017.
Crimea hosts Ukraine's largest ethnic Russian population, many of whom are retired military personnel or employees of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, especially in Sevastopol. Between 1992–1995, the dispute over the future of the fleet exacerbated internal frictions, with statements by Russian politicians encouraging separatist sentiments.[19][20]
Despite being an independent country since 1991, the formerSoviet republicUkraine has been perceived byRussia as being part of itssphere of influence.Iulian Chifu and his co-authors claimed in a book that in regard to Ukraine, Russia pursued a modernized version of theBrezhnev Doctrine on "limited sovereignty", which dictates that the sovereignty of Ukraine cannot be larger than that of theWarsaw Pact prior to thedemise of theSoviet sphere of influence.[21] This claim is based on statements of Russian leaders thatpossible integration of Ukraine into NATO would jeopardize Russia's national security.[21]
The issue resurfaced in late 2000s over Ukraine asserting its sovereignty and Russia's concern over its western orientation. In 2008, Russia used Sevastopol and the Black Sea Fleet in theRusso-Georgian War and ignored Ukraine regulations, leading to Ukrainian PresidentYushchenko's declaration that the lease deal would not be extended and that the fleet would have to leave Sevastopol by 2017.[22] However, in 2010 presidentYanukovych signed theKharkiv Pact amidstRussia–Ukraine gas disputes.[20]
In September 2013, Russia warned Ukraine that if it went ahead with a plannedAssociation Agreement with EU, it would face consequences.[23]Sergey Glazyev, adviser to President Vladimir Putin, said that, "Ukrainian authorities make a huge mistake if they think that the Russian reaction will become neutral in a few years from now. This will not happen." Glazyev allowed for the possibility of separatist movements springing up in the Russian-speaking east and south of Ukraine.[23]
After theCrimean referendum of 1991, which asked whether Crimea should be elevated to a signatory of theNew Union Treaty (that is, become aunion republic on its own), the Ukrainian SSR restored Crimea's autonomous status (Crimean Autonomous SSR), but confirmed that autonomy restored as a part of the Ukrainian SSR. The Crimean Oblast council becameSupreme Council of Crimea and, on 4 September 1991, passed the Declaration of state sovereignty of Crimea.[24]
Following thedissolution of the Soviet Union, the ASSR renamed itself theRepublic of Crimea.[25] The Ukrainian government initially accepted its name, but not its claims to be astate. According to Ukrainian law "On status of the autonomous Republic of Crimea", passed on 29 April 1992, "Republic of Crimea is anautonomous part of Ukraine and independently decides on matters, of its application of the Constitution and laws of Ukraine" (art. 1).[26] The Regional Supreme Council, on the contrary, insisted that "Republic of Crimea is alegal democraticstate", which "has supremacy in respect to natural, material, cultural and spiritual heritage" and "exercises its sovereign rights and fullpower" on its territory (art. 1 of the May 1992 Constitution), but also a "part of Ukraine and establishes relations in it on a basis of the treaty and agreements" (art. 9).[27] Both Ukrainian law on autonomy status[28] and the 1992 Constitution of Crimea[29] were amended later that year, putting the Republic's status in between what was proposed in the initial revision of the 1992 Constitution and what was proposed in April 1992 Ukrainian law on the status of the Republic.
On 21 May 1992 theSupreme Soviet of Russia declared 1954 transfer of Crimea as having "no legal force", because it was adopted "in violation of theConstitution (Fundamental Law) of the Russian SFSR and legislative process", but because subsequent legislation and the1990 Russo-Ukrainian treaty constituted that fact, parliament considered it necessary to resolve the Crimean question in negotiations between Ukraine and Russia and on the basis of the popular will of the inhabitants of Crimea.[30] A similar resolution wasadopted for Sevastopol a year later. Both moves were condemned by Ukraine[31][32][33] and resulted in no changes to the Russian Constitution (neither 1978 nor 1993 documents enumerated Crimea and Sevastopol as federal subjects).
In 1994, afterparliamentary andpresidential elections in the Republic, the Supreme Council and the executive became dominated by theRussian Bloc (which had won 57 seats in theSupreme Council of Crimea andPresidency for its member,Yuri Meshkov).[34] Following areferendum, held in the same year, the Supreme Council of Crimea restored the 1992 Constitution to its original revision.[35]
A year later, the 1992 Crimean constitution, along with the presidency and regional citizenship, was declarednull and void by the Ukrainian Parliament, which by that time, had renamed the area from "Republic of Crimea" toAutonomous Republic of Crimea.[36] Another Constitution was passed by Crimean parliament in 1995,[37] but many parts of it were rejected by the Ukrainian parliament; among them were the republic's name (which was to remain "Republic of Crimea") and citizenship.[38] Meanwhile, during drafting of the new Ukrainian Constitution, the question of autonomy was much debated: some legislators proposed abolishing it altogether (downgrading back tooblast status or toautonomy but notautonomous republic),[39][40] while other legislators proposed legalising the 1992 Constitution of Crimea provisions (original May revision) in the new Ukrainian Constitution.[39] Ultimately, the newConstitution of Ukraine adopted neither extreme and reiterated the autonomous status of the republic, while downgrading some of its powers (such as the regional Supreme Council's powers to enactlegislation in form of laws ("zakoni")). The Republic was declared to be the "Autonomous Republic of Crimea", but also an "inseparable constituent part of Ukraine".[41] A new Crimean constitution, complying with provisions of the Ukrainian one, was adopted in 1998.
Before the1954 transfer of Crimea,Sevastopol waselevated into a "city of republican subordination" of the Russian SFSR – a predecessor[42] of the modern status of"city of federal importance". Nevertheless, in practice it was still governed as a part of the Crimean Oblast; for example, inhabitants of Sevastopol elected deputies into the Crimean Oblast Council,[43][44] and all its structures, such as localmilitsiya departments, etc., were subordinated to oblast structures,[45] and thereforede facto transferred, too. TheUkrainian Constitution of 1978 listed Sevastopol as one of its"cities of republican subordination" (along with Kyiv),[46] whilst theRussian constitution of the same year did not list Sevastopol as such.[47]
In 1993,the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation issued aresolution, which "confirms Russian federal status of Sevastopol" and requested a parliamentary commission to prepare and present toCongress of People's Deputies of Russia correspondingconstitutional amendments, but1993 Russian constitutional crisis prevented that from happening and initial revisions of theConstitution of Russia, adopted on 12 December 1993, did not list Sevastopol as a federal subject. Three years later, theState Duma declared that Russia has a right to exercise sovereignty over Sevastopol,[48] but this resolution went without any actual effect. Anagreement was concluded in 1997 by the Russian and Ukrainian governments, allowing theBlack Sea Fleet to stay in Sevastopol until 2017. Later this wasextended by another 25 years until 2042, with a possible option to extend this period until 2047.
After the events ofEuromaidan, the referendum and the decision holding it was held during and after Russia's implementation of a military presence in Crimea.[6]Igor Girkin, one of the major Russian commanders of the action, explained that the "overwhelming national support for the self-defence" as portrayed by the Russian media was fiction, and a majority of the law enforcement, administration and army were opposed to it.[49][50] Girkin stated that under his command, the rebels "collected" deputies into the chambers, and had to "forcibly drive the deputies to vote [to join Russia]".[50][51]
On 14 March, the Crimean status referendum was deemed unconstitutional by theConstitutional Court of Ukraine,[52] and a day later, theVerkhovna Rada formally dissolved the Crimean parliament.[53] On March 16, a Crimean referendum on the status of the peninsula was held, which, despite opposition from the Ukrainian government, was held after a decision by the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. The day before, on March 15, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed a resolution to early terminate the powers of the Verkhovna Rada of the ARC, and on March 14, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine declared the referendum unconstitutional.According to the official results released by the Crimean authorities, 97% of voters voted in favor of secession from Ukraine and joining the Russian Federation.However, the referendum was held in the absence of international observers, which raised doubts about its legitimacy and transparency. A number of states and international organizations did not recognize the results of the vote, pointing to numerous reports of fraud and violations during the voting process, as well as the presence of Russian troops in Crimea, which could have influenced the will of the citizens.[54]
The peninsula then was annexed by Russia where it was converted into a federal district under the name ofCrimean Federal District. However, the annexation divided the Autonomous Republic and the city of Sevastopol once again into two separate entities: the Autonomous Republic became theRepublic of Crimea asa Russian republic whileSevastopol becamea Russian federal city.
Regardless of all this, Ukraine and the vast majority of the international community have not recognized the validity of the referendum, and have not recognized the accession of this region into Russia.
Only Russia and a few other nations have recognized all these events. The lack of recognition from Ukraine and the international community is based primarily on the fact that the referendum included an option to join Russia while the region wasunder military occupation by Russia itself. TheEuropean Union,United States,Canada and several other nations condemned the decision to hold a referendum. In addition, theMejlis of the Crimean Tatar People—the unofficial political association of the Crimean Tatars—called for a boycott of the referendum.[55]
In 2014,UN General Assemblyadopted a non-binding resolution declaring the referendum invalid and reaffirming Ukraine's territorial integrity by a vote of 100 to 11 with 58 abstentions and 24 absent.[56][57] Since 2014, theUN General Assembly has voted several times, most recently in December 2019,[58] to affirm Ukraine's territorial integrity, condemn the 'temporary occupation' of Crimea, and reaffirm nonrecognition of its annexation.[58]
TheMinistry ofTemporarily Occupied Territories andInternally displaced persons (Ukrainian:Міністерство з питань тимчасово окупованих територій та внутрішньо переміщених осіб України) is a Ukrainiangovernment ministry officially established on 20 April 2016[59] to manage occupied parts ofDonetsk, Luhansk and Crimea regions affected by Russian military intervention of 2014.
In 2021, Ukraine launched theCrimea Platform, a diplomatic initiative aimed at protecting the rights of Crimean inhabitants and ultimately reversing the annexation of Crimea.[60]
FollowingRussia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the strategic importance of Crimea increased significantly,[61] serving as a key military base forRussian operations in southern Ukraine. Ukraine has since launched multiple operations aimed at challenging Russian control over the peninsula, includingtargeted strikes on military infrastructure in Crimea.[62]
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
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