Russian occupation of Crimea | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Coat of arms | |
 | |
| Occupied country |  Ukraine |
| Occupying power |  Russia |
| Established | 27 February 2014 – present |
| Administrative centre |  Simferopol |
| Largest settlement | Simferopol,Yalta |
| Government | |
| • Head | Sergey Aksyonov |
Since 2014,Russia has occupied theCrimean Peninsula, a part ofUkraine. On 27 February 2014, Russia sentsoldiers in unmarked uniform to Crimea to take control of it, starting theRusso-Ukrainian war. This military occupation paved the way for theRussian annexation of Crimea on 18 March 2014. While the Russian government deems Crimea to bepart of the Russian Federation, Ukraine andmost of the international community see it as anoccupied territory of Ukraine.
The occupation began during Ukraine'sRevolution of Dignity, which ousted pro-Russian presidentViktor Yanukovych. Russian special forces, disguised as "Crimean self-defense forces",took control of Crimea's government buildings, surrounded Ukrainian military bases, and blockaded the peninsula. Russia denied involvement at the time,[1] but Putin later admitted that they were Russian troops.[2] A pro-Russian government was installed and areferendum on Crimea's status was held under occupation. According to the Russian-installed authorities, the result was in favour of joining Russia. Russia annexed Crimea on 18 March 2014, re-organizing it as aRussian republic and turningSevastopol into aRussian federal city.[3][4] Russia also claimed anexclusive economic zone in theBlack Sea around Crimea. This zone is three times bigger than the peninsula and holds vastnatural gas andoil reserves.[5] TheUnited Nations General Assembly adopteda resolution affirming the "territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders", and theUN considers Crimea to be Russian-occupied.[6]
Since the beginning of theRussian invasion of mainland Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has used Crimea as a base from which toattack mainland Ukraine. The Ukrainian military has responded withattacks on Russian forces in Crimea. One of Russia's preconditions for ending the invasion has been the recognition of Russian claims to Crimea, while one of Ukraine's goals is to liberate the territory, by military means if necessary.[7][8][9][10][11][12]
TheUnited Nations Human Rights Office stated that Russia has committed serious human rights violations in occupied Crimea.[13] This includes severely curbing the right tofreedom of speech,assembly andreligion;arbitrary arrest and detention; andforced disappearance. Ethnic Ukrainians andCrimean TatarMuslims have suffered discrimination and repression.[13] Residents who did not accept Russian citizenship lost their right to live and work in Crimea.[13] Russia has also been accused ofneo-colonialism by enforcedRussification and by settling large numbers of Russians in Crimea and pushing out Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars.[14]
In early February 2014, as theprotests in Ukraine seemed likely to collapse the government, theKremlin received a strategy paper outlining plans for the occupation and annexation of Crimea.[15] The documents said that the Ukrainian government and presidentViktor Yanukovych would not last.[15] They proposed that Russia should foster separatism in Crimea and other eastern provinces, and should begin work on taking control of them.[16][17] On 21 February 2014, Ukrainian president Yanukovych secretly fled the capital, and the next day, parliamentvoted to remove him from office. Russia's leadership was reportedly worried that itsSevastopol Naval Base in Crimea might be at risk under a new Ukrainian government that was committed to closer ties with the West. On 22–23 February 2014, Russian presidentVladimir Putin held an all-night meeting with security chiefs to discuss the crisis. At the end of that meeting, Putin said: "we must start working on returning Crimea to Russia".[18][19]
Russia took advantage of the uncertainty in Ukraine immediately after the ousting of Yanukovych.[20] On 26 February, Putin ordered theRussian Armed Forces to be "put on alert in theWestern Military District as well as units stationed with the 2nd ArmyCentral Military District Command involved in aerospace defence, airborne troops and long-range military transport". RussianDefence MinisterSergei Shoigu denied that this was related to events in Ukraine.[21]
Early on 27 February 2014, Russian special forces began to occupy Crimea, wearing unmarked uniforms to hide their origin.[22][23] They were referred to as"little green men". The soldiers had set out from theRussian base in Sevastopol and travelled to the capitalSimferopol. There, theyseized theCrimean parliament building and the Council of Ministers building.[24]Russian flags were raised over them[25] and barricades were erected.[26] A military checkpoint, with a Russian flag and Russian military vehicles, was set up on the main highway between Sevastopol and Simferopol.[27]
Hours after the takeover began, the Crimean parliament held an emergency session while the armed men occupied the building.[28][29] It voted to dismiss the Crimean government, and replace Prime MinisterAnatolii Mohyliov withSergey Aksyonov; a member of theRussian Unity party, which received only 4% of votes in the last election.[29] Under theConstitution of Ukraine, the prime minister of Crimea is appointed by the Crimean parliament (Supreme Council of Crimea) in consultation with the president of Ukraine.[30][31] Both Aksyonov and speakerVladimir Konstantinov stated that they viewed Viktor Yanukovych as thede jure president of Ukraine.[32] The parliament also voted to hold a referendum on Crimea's political status, set for 25 May. HistorianAndrew Wilson and journalistLuke Harding called this the "Crimeancoup".[33][34]
The troops had cut all of the building's communications, and took MPs' phones as they entered.[28][29] No independent journalists were allowed inside the building while the votes were held.[29] Some MPs said they were threatened and that votes were cast for them and other MPs, even though they were not in the chamber.[29]Interfax-Ukraine reported that there was no way to know how many MPs were present, and whether they voted themselves or if someone else used their voting cards.[35] The head of parliament's information department, Olha Sulnikova, phoned journalists from inside the building, telling them 61 of the registered 64 deputies had voted for the referendum resolution and 55 for the resolution to dismiss the government.[35] These votes were immediately declared illegal by the Ukrainian interim government.[36]
Russian FSB colonelIgor Girkin (alias 'Strelkov'), one of the commanders of the soldiers, said in January 2015 that Crimean MPs were held at gunpoint and forced to vote in favor.[37] Girkin said:
"Unfortunately I did not see any support from the [Crimean] authorities in Simferopol where I was ... It was militants who collected deputies and forced them to vote. Yes, I was one of the commanders of those militants. I saw that from the inside".[38][39]
The same day, more unmarked troops set upsecurity checkpoints on theIsthmus of Perekop and theChonhar Peninsula, which separate Crimea from the Ukrainian mainland.[26][40][41][42][43] They were helped by what appeared to be localBerkut riot police, as well as Russian troops from the31st Separate Airborne Assault Brigade dressed in Berkut uniforms.[44] Within hours, Ukraine had been cut off from Crimea. Ukrainian TV channels became unavailable for Crimean viewers, some replaced with Russian stations. On 29 February, unmarked Russian special forces occupied Crimea's airports and communications centers.[45]
On 1 March 2014, Aksyonov said that he would exercise control of all Ukrainian military and security installations on the peninsula. He also asked Putin for "assistance in ensuring peace and tranquillity" in Crimea.[46] Putin promptly received authorisation from theFederation Council of Russia for aRussian military intervention in Ukraine until the "political-social situation in the country is normalized".[47][48] Ukraine's prime minister,Arseniy Yatsenyuk, said that Russian military intervention would be the beginning of war.[45]
An emergency meeting of theUN Security Council was held on 2 March 2014 to discuss the crisis. Ukrainian ambassadorYuriy Sergeyev said that Russia was committing "anact of aggression against the state of Ukraine". He stated that Russia had broken theBudapest agreement and called on the other signatories to provide the assistance they had agreed to.[49] Russian ambassadorVitaly Churkin accused the US and EU of "encouraging" the protests that had led to the ousting of Ukrainian president Yanukovych. He denied that Russian forces had invaded Crimea. US AmbassadorSamantha Power told the session that Russia had violated Ukraine's sovereignty and called for the "immediate deployment" international monitors from the UN and theOrganization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).[50]
By 2 March, Russian troops were in full control of Crimea, having deployed from the naval base in Sevastopol and reinforced by troops, armour, and helicopters from mainland Russia.[51][52][53] On 3 March theyblockaded the Southern Naval Base.
On 4 March, theUkrainian General Staff said there were Russian units of the18th Motor Rifle Brigade,31st Air Assault Brigade and22nd Spetsnaz Brigade deployed and operating in Crimea, not onlyRussian Black Sea Fleet personnel, which violated international agreements signed by Ukraine and Russia.[54][55]
At a press conference on 4 March, president Putin said that Russia had no plans to annex Crimea.[56] He also said that it had no plans to invade Ukraine, but that it might intervene if Russians in Ukraine were threatened.[56] This was part of a pattern of public denials of the ongoing Russian military operation.[56]
Numerous media reports and statements by the Ukrainian and foreign governments noted the identity of the unmarked troops as Russian soldiers, but Russian officialsconcealed the identity of their forces, claiming they were local "self-defence" units over whom they had no authority.[57] As late as 17 April, Russian foreign ministerSergey Lavrov said that there were no "excessive Russian troops" in Ukraine.[58] At the same press conference, Putin said of the peninsula that "only citizens themselves, in conditions of free expression of will and their security can determine their future".[59] Putin later acknowledged that he had ordered "work to bring Crimea back into Russia" as early as February.[60] He also acknowledged that in early March there were "secret opinion polls" held in Crimea, which, according to him, reported overwhelming popular support for Crimea's incorporation into Russia.[61]
Russia eventually admitted its troops' presence.[62] Defence MinisterSergei Shoigu said the country's military actions in Crimea were undertaken by forces of theBlack Sea Fleet and were justified by "threat to lives of Crimean civilians" and danger of "takeover of Russian military infrastructure by extremists".[63][better source needed] Ukraine complained that by increasing its troop presence in Crimea, Russia violated the agreement under which it headquartered its Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol[64] and violated the country'ssovereignty.[65] The United States and United Kingdom accused Russia of breaking the terms of theBudapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, by which Russia, the US, and the UK had reaffirmed their obligation to refrain from the threat or use of force against theterritorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine.[66] The Russian government said the Budapest Memorandum[67] did not apply due to "circumstances resulting from the action of internal political or socio-economic factors".[68] In March 2015, retired Russian AdmiralIgor Kasatonov [ru] stated that according to his information the Russian troop deployment in Crimea included six helicopter landings and three landings of anIL-76 with 500 people.[69][70]
On 16 March 2014, areferendum status of Crimea was held by Russia, where, according to official Russian data, 96.77% of the inhabitants of the (Autonomous) Republic of Crimea and the city ofSevastopol voted for the reunification of the respective territories with the Russian Federation. On 17 March, theVerkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea proclaimed the independence of theRepublic of Crimea, and on 18 March, in the Georgievsky Hall of theKremlin,President of RussiaVladimir Putin, together with the self-proclaimed Chairman of the Council ofMinisters of the Autonomous Republic of CrimeaSergey Aksyonov, the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of CrimeaVladimir Konstantinov and the self-proclaimed life of SevastopolAleksei Chalyi, signed the Treaty on the Adoption of the Republic Crimea to Russia. On 21 March, theFederation Council adopted a law on the ratification of the Treaty of 18 March and a law on the formation of newsubjects of the federation — theRepublic of Crimea and thefederal city ofSevastopol, securing the annexation of these regions by Russia.
On 27 March 2014, theUnited Nations General Assembly supported the territorial integrity of Ukraine, recognizingAutonomous Republic of Crimea andSevastopol as its integral parts. 100 UN member states out of 194 voted for the relevant resolution. Only 11 countries voted against (Armenia,Belarus,Bolivia,Cuba,Nicaragua,North Korea, Russia,Sudan,Syria,Venezuela andZimbabwe), 58 abstained.[71] The forced annexation of Crimea is not recognized by Ukraine,[72] is not recognized by theUN General Assembly,PACE,[73]OSCE PA, and also contradicts the decision of theVenice Commission, while the Russian authorities interpret it as "the return of Crimea to Russia." According to the Law of Ukraine "On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Citizens and the Legal Regime in the Temporarily Occupied Territory of Ukraine", the territory of the Crimean Peninsula is considered temporarily occupied territory as a result of Russian occupation.
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On 21 November 2015, segments of the four electricity transmission lines in Ukraine supplying electricity to Crimea were destroyed by Ukrainian activists, causing about 1.6 million people and 150 schools in Crimea to be without power and water supplies to some high buildings to fail.Ukrinterenergo repaired the lines a few days later, as Russia was considering stopping supplies of coal to Ukraine in response.[74][75]
On 8 August 2016, Ukraine reported that Russia had increased its military presence along the demarcation line.[76] In response to this military buildup Ukraine also deployed more troops and resources closer to the border with Crimea.[77] The Pentagon has downplayed a Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling Russian troops along the border a regular military exercise.[78] On 10 August, Russia claimed two servicemen were killed in clashes with Ukrainian commandos, and that Ukrainian servicemen had been captured with a total of 40 kg of explosives in their possession.[79] Ukraine denied that the incident took place.[80]
Russian accounts claimed that RussianFSB detained "Ukrainian saboteurs" and "terrorists" nearArmiansk. The ensuing gunfight left oneFSB officer and a suspect dead. A number of individuals were detained, including Yevhen Panov, who is described by Russian sources as a Ukrainian military intelligence officer and leader of the sabotage group. The group was allegedly planning terror attacks on important infrastructure in Armiansk, Crimea.[81][82] Ukrainian media reported that Panov was a military volunteer fighting in the east of the country, however he has more recently been associated with a charitable organization. Russia also claimed that the alleged border infiltration was accompanied by "heavy fire" from Ukrainian territory, resulting in the death of a Russian soldier.[81][82] The Ukrainian government called the Russian accusations "cynical" and "senseless" and argued that since Crimea was Ukrainian territory, it was Russia which "has been generously financing and actively supporting terrorism on Ukrainian territory".[83]
On 28 December 2018, Russia completed a high-tech security fence marking the de facto border between Crimea and Ukraine.[84]
On 25 November 2018, three ships of theUkrainian Navy – two small armored artillery boats,Berdyansk andNikopol, and the tugYany Kapu – carried out a planned transition from the port of Odesa on theBlack Sea to theport of Mariupol on theSea of Azov. The Ukrainian side informed in advance about the route in accordance with international standards to ensure the safety of navigation. In the area of theKerch Strait, they were stopped by a Russian tanker, which blocked the passage under theCrimean Bridge built by the occupying authorities. Contrary to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Treaty between Ukraine and the Russian Federation on Cooperation in the Use of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait, the border ships of the Russian Federation (patrol border boats of the Sobol type, the Don PSKR, the Mongoose type boats, the Suzdalets MPK) committed aggressive actions against the ships of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The border ship "Don" rammed the Ukrainian tug, as a result of which the ship's main engine, plating and railing were damaged, and a life raft was lost. Dispatching service refused to ensure the right of freedom of navigation, guaranteed by international agreements.[85] The Russians captured the three Ukrainian ships and 24 sailors, 6 of whom were wounded. In Ukraine, on the same day, an urgent meeting of theNational Security and Defense Council was convened to discuss the introduction ofmartial law. The next day, 26 November, they approved the decision to introduce martial law for 30 days.[86]
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Shortly before the start ofnegotiations, Vladimir Putin's press secretaryDmitry Peskov, in an interview withReuters, outlined the main requirements for Ukraine, one of which was the recognition of Crimea as Russian.[87]President of UkraineVolodymyr Zelenskyy said on the air of the ABC TV channel that he was ready to discuss the issues ofCrimea andDonbas, but as part of Ukraine.[88]
On 29 March 2022, the head of the Ukrainian delegation,Mykhailo Podoliak, proposed to negotiate the status of Crimea and Sevastopol for 15 years.[89] At the same time, both Moscow and Kyiv should refrain from resolving this issue by military means throughout this period.Vladimir Medinsky, in turn, said that this does not correspond to the Russian position.[90] According to the statements ofMykhailo Podoliak and David Arakhamia after the negotiations, Ukraine proposed to freeze the issue of the status of Crimea for 15 years, proposed the conclusion of an international treaty on security guarantees, which would be signed and ratified by all countries acting as guarantors of Ukraine's security.[91][92] But the negotiation process was suspended in May 2022.[93]
On 9 August 2022,explosions occurred at the Saky military airfield in Crimea.[94] As a result of a fire and explosions at the airfield used as the main air force base of the RussianBlack Sea Fleet, from 7 to 11Su-24 andSu-30SM aircraft were destroyed.[95][96][97][98][99] On 7 September 2022, theCommander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of UkraineValerii Zaluzhnyi announced that it had launched a missile attack on the airfield.[100][101]
On 23 August 2022, due to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, the second summit of theCrimea Platform was held online. The event was attended by more than 60 participants – leaders of countries and international organizations. They made statements in support of Ukraine.[102][103]
On 29 August 2022, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the Russian-Ukrainian war would end exactly where it began in 2014 – with the entry of Ukrainian troops to the state border in 1991, the liberation of the previously occupied territories of Ukraine, including Donbas and Crimea from the Russians.[7][104]
On 28 September 2022, the commander of theUS Army in Europe, retired Lieutenant GeneralBen Hodges, is convinced that the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be able to push the Russian military back to their positions on 23 February by the end of this year, and by mid-2023 the Defense Forces can enter the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea.[105] On 30 September 2022, the head of theMain Directorate of Intelligence of theMinistry of Defense,Kyrylo Budanov, stated that "Ukraine will return to the occupied Crimea – this will happen with weapons and pretty soon. The liberation of Crimea will not take place in the summer, but before the end of spring, perhaps a little earlier."[106]
On 6 October 2022, the administration of President of the United StatesJoe Biden assessed the likelihood of the liberation of Crimea by the Ukrainian military, noting that de-occupation for Ukraine is already quite possible. That is why such a scenario of events can no longer be discounted. The official emphasized that thepace of advancement of the Ukrainian military in the Kherson Oblast gives hope for the liberation of the peninsula temporarily occupied by Russia.[107]
On 8 October, afire broke out on theCrimean Bridge inKerch, the occupation authorities of the peninsula accused Ukraine ofundermining the crossing.[108] TheUkrainian government's official Twitter account tweeted "sick burn" in response to the fire, whileMykhailo Podoliak, a Ukrainian presidential advisor, called the damage a "beginning".[109] TheMinistry of Defense of Ukraine compared the destruction of the Crimean Bridge to thedestruction of the cruiserMoskva: "What's next, Russkies?".[110][111] The Russian authorities in the Crimea accused the Ukrainian side for what happened.[112]
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the head of annexed Sevastopol, said that on the morning of 29 October 2022, the Ukrainian military attacked ships of theBlack Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation and civilian vessels. According to him, it was the most massive drone attack in the entire history of the war, and the ships are damaged.[113][114] TheRussian Ministry of Defense accused theRoyal Navy of preparing an attack on Sevastopol, which is allegedly located inOchakiv ofMykolaiv Oblast.[115][116] Both Ukraine and Britain have rejected Russian allegations, with the United Kingdom saying Russia is "peddling false claims of an epic scale."[117] On the same day, Russia announced that it was suspending participation in the implementation of thegrain agreement allegedly because of the "terrorist attack" in theSevastopol Bay.[118][119]
After thereturn of control by thegovernment of Ukraine to theright-bank Kherson, Mykolaiv Oblasts and thecity of Kherson in November 2022, theFinancial Times published an article based on the head of the Ukrainian Centre for Security and Cooperation, Serhii Kuzan, in which it was noted that the return of the city of Kherson would allow the Armed Forces of Ukraine to keep under fire control three important roads, in particular to Crimea, from where the Russians supply equipment and ammunition.[120] A little earlier, in November 2022, a lawyer and former military man who served in theBalkans,Iraq andAfghanistan,Frank Ledwidge, toldThe Guardian that in September, Ukraine's commander- in-chief, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said that he saw Russia's "centre of gravity" – the key to the war – as Crimea.[121] All military indicators strongly suggest that Ukraine's next offensives will set the peninsula as their objective.[122]
On 3 December 2022, it became known that theRussians brought packaging material to the central museums of occupied Crimea and began preparing collections and exhibits for export to the Russian Federation.[123][124]
On 19 January 2023, during the Ukrainian breakfast inDavos,Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the goal of Ukraine is to de-occupy all territories temporarily seized by Russia and called on the Western world to provide heavy weapons for this.[10][11][12]
During the early stages of the occupation, cities likeSimferopol,Yalta andSevastopol became the scene of pro-Ukrainian protests of different sizes, most notably a mass protest on 26 February 2014, where tensions arose between approximately 10,000 pro-Ukrainian protesters and a crowd of roughly 5,000 pro-Russian demonstrators in front of theregional administration building inSimferopol.[125][126][127][128]
Between 2014 and 2017, the peninsula became the scene of a low-intensity insurgency, during which pro-Ukrainian partisans mainly committed sabotage and arson attacks against infrastructure targets, but also acts of psychological warfare, as well as attacks on Russian security forces.[129][130][131]
DuringRussia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, militant pro-Ukrainianpartisan movements started toorganize in Russian-occupiedEastern andSouthern Ukraine. Since then, Crimean partisan cells have been involved in acts ofsabotage,arson,assassinations,vandalism andpsychological warfare on the territory of the wholepeninsula, with the far north, theSouthern Coast and theSimferopol-Bakhchysarai metropolitan area being ″hotspots″ of their activity.[132]
United Nations special rapporteurs have condemned the Russian occupation authorities for attempting "to erase local [Ukrainian] culture, history, and language" and to forcibly replace it with Russian language and culture. Ukrainian monuments and places of worship have been razed, while Ukrainian history books and literature deemed to be "extremist" have been seized from public libraries and destroyed. Civil servants and teachers have been detained for their refusal to implement Russian policy.[133] TheInternational Court of Justice in ruled in 2024 that steep and systematic decline in providing education inUkrainian language in occupied Crimea was artificially enforced by the Russian Federation with intent to harmUkrainian ethnicity in the region, thus breaking theConvention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination by restricting Ukrainian-language school classes.[134] Russia has been accused ofneocolonialism and colonization in Crimea by enforcedRussification,passportization, and by settling Russian citizens on the peninsula and forcing out Ukrainians andCrimean Tatars.[135]
In the fall of 2014, the Russian authorities conducted apopulation census in the occupied Crimea, according to which there were 344,500 Ukrainians on the peninsula (15.7%), and the native language was Ukrainian for only 3.3% of the Crimean population. According to sociologistIryna Bekeshkina, this reduction in the number of Ukrainians was due to the change in identification of part of the Ukrainian population from Ukrainians to Russians.[136] After the occupation, many ethnic Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars began to leave Crimea for mainland Ukraine.[106] As of 15 August 2019, 40,733 displaced people from the occupied peninsula were officially registered on the mainland of Ukraine.[137] In parallel with this, as the activists of the Crimean Tatar movement drew attention in 2018, several hundreds of thousands of Russians moved to Crimea with the assistance of the Russian authorities during the 4 years of occupation.[106][81] All this creates grounds for further fundamental changes in the ethnic structure of the peninsula.[106]
After the occupation of Crimea, Ukrainians became one of the ethnic communities of the peninsula most discriminated against by the occupying Russian authorities. The occupying power persecutes Ukrainian public figures, carries out anti-Ukrainian propaganda, makesxenophobic andchauvinist statements, persecutes Ukrainian religious communities, bans the activities of Ukrainian public and political organizations, restricts the use of the Ukrainian language and Ukrainian national symbols.[81][82] Thus, as early as the first half of 2014, Ukrainian-language signs were replaced with Russian ones,[82] in April 2014, themonument to Petro Sahaydachny and a commemorative sign in honor of the 10th anniversary of theUkrainian Navy were dismantled in Sevastopol,[138] in August 2014, it was announced that 250 Ukrainian language and literature teachers would be retrained in Russian,[139] in September 2014, the Faculty of Ukrainian Language was liquidated at theTavri University (a department of Ukrainian philology was created instead),[140] in November 2014, theCrimean Academic Ukrainian Musical Theater was renamed the State Academic Musical Theater of the Republic of Crimea, and the onlyUkrainian school-gymnasium in Simferopol was transferred to the Russian language of instruction and renamed to Simferopol Academic Gymnasium,[141] in December 2014, the Ukrainian children's theater studio "Svitanok" closed due to pressure,[142] in March 2016, theLesia Ukrainka Museum in Yalta was closed for renovation,[143] in the same month, the RussianFSB searched the premises of the Ukrainian society "Prosvita" in Sevastopol, where they seized more than 250 "extremist materials".[144] The power structures of the occupation authorities detained a number of Ukrainian figures, in particular,Andriy Shchekun, Anatoliy Kovalskyi and others, some of the detainees were tortured.[139] The Russian military seized most of the churches of theOrthodox Church of Ukraine —as of October 2018, 38 out of 46 Ukrainian parishes in Crimea stopped working.[145] As of June 2019, only one OCU church remained in operation, but it was also looted by a court decision under the guise of repairs. According to Archbishop of Simferopol and CrimeaKlyment, these hostile actions of the Russian occupying power towards the Ukrainian Church are aimed at the complete destruction of Ukrainian identity and Ukrainians as a separate nation in Crimea.[146]
In May 2015, the Ukrainian Cultural Center was established in Crimea, whose participants aimed to preserve Ukrainian culture and language on the peninsula.[147][148][149] Members of the center were repeatedly detained by Russian law enforcement agencies for conducting events to celebrate Ukrainian commemorative dates, some of the participants were searched at home, several were held administratively liable by a Russian court, and they were persecuted for their views at the everyday level.[147][148][150] In August 2017, the center started publishing the newspaper "Krymsky Teren" in Ukrainian and Russian.[150]
In 2015, after the persecution of members of the UCC, the organization "Ukrainian Community of Crimea" was created, headed by Oleg Usyk, a member of "United Russia", but it later ceased to exist. In 2018, a new legal public organization "Ukrainian Community of Crimea" was founded in Crimea, headed by Anastasia Hrydchyna, a member of the Young Guard of United Russia. This organization expresses support for the actions of the Russian authorities, denies the persecution of Ukrainians on the peninsula, participates in official events of the local occupation authorities, holds several congresses of the Ukrainian diaspora in Crimea, and created the Ukrainian-language website "Pereyaslavska rada 2.0". According to historian Andrii Ivanets and journalists of theKrim.Realii project, in fact this organization does not care about the problems of Ukrainians in Crimea and was created as a means of information warfare.[151]
According to the Constitution of theRepublic of Crimea adopted in April 2014, Ukrainian became one of the official languages of this subject (along with Russian and Crimean Tatar).[152] Despite this, the sphere of use of the Ukrainian language is constantly shrinking. After the occupation of 2014, the study of the Ukrainian language on the peninsula was made optional, and its use in official records was stopped altogether.[153] The number of students with Ukrainian language of instruction continues to decrease. According to official Russian statistics, 12,892 students studied Ukrainian in the 2016/2017 academic year, and 6,400 students in the 2017/2018 academic year.[154] At the same time, according to Ukrainian and international observers, the real number of students with the Ukrainian language of instruction is much lower than officially declared. According to Crimean human rights group, during the occupation, the number of students studying Ukrainian decreased 31 times —from 13,589 students in 2013 to 371 students in 2016.[155] In April 2017, following Ukraine's appeal, theInternational Court of Justice UN inThe Hague considered the case of Russia's violation of theInternational Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and adopted a decision according to which Russia should provide opportunities for teaching in the Ukrainian language on the peninsula.[156] According to the UN, in the 2017/2018 school year, there were 318 students in Crimea who studied in Ukrainian.[157] Before the occupation, there were 7 Ukrainian schools in Crimea, but by 2018 all of them were translated into Russian.[154] According to official data of the Russian Ministry of Education of the Crimea, in the 2018/2019 school year in the Crimea, out of 200,700 children, only 249 (0.2%) studied in the Ukrainian language, there was one Ukrainian-language school and 5 schools with 8 classes with the Ukrainian language of instruction. According to the report of the Crimean human rights group in 2019, not a single school remained in Crimea with the Ukrainian language of instruction, and there were even fewer Ukrainian-language classes than officially claimed.[158]
Ukrainian historians and politicians assumed a similar development of events back in 2008 during theRusso-Georgian War. Experts pointed out that the Russian Federation only needed a pretext to start annexing the peninsula. The events at theEuromaidan and theRevolution of Dignity became such an occasion.[159]
In November 2014,Andrey Illarionov, a former economical adviser toPresident of RussiaVladimir Putin and a dissident, claimed that talks of a Russian invasion began long before Yanukovych's appeal.[160]
In January 2017,Ilya Ponomarev, a Russian politician and member of the State Duma of Russia (Fair Russia faction), claimed that the leadership of the annexation of Crimea was entrusted to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Vladimir Putin's aide Vladislav Surkov.[161]
On 17 December 2019, theMinistry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has brought up that, in his opinion, Russia's actions in Crimea and Donbas fully fall under the definition of aggression in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 1976:[162]"Since 2014, Ukrainian government, has been constantly qualifying the internationally illegal actions of the Russian Federation in Crimea and Donbas as an act of aggression. We clearly and consistently proving that such actions of the Russian Federation fully fall within the definition of aggression in accordance with paragraphs a), b), c), d), e) and g) of Article 3 of the Annex to UN General Assembly Resolution 3314 (XXIX) "Definitionaggression", adopted 45 years ago".[163]
On 11 December 2022,The Washington Post published an article reporting that the Western world, while supportingUkraine, fears that any Ukrainian counteroffensive in Crimea could promptVladimir Putin to take decisive action, potentially even usingnuclear weapons. Some Western officials hope that an agreement on Ukraine's renunciation of Crimea in favor of Russia can become the basis for a diplomatic end to the war. A proponent of Ukraine, Rory Finnin, an associate professor at the Department of Ukrainian Studies at theUniversity of Cambridge, believes that a compromise regarding Crimea is unlikely:
The idea that somehow Ukraine should just go back to the status quo post-2014 is foolish because all that will happen is another escalation. It is hard to imagineUkrainians being comfortable with giving up this territory, knowing this means the abandonment of millions of people. The moral and geopolitical stakes of such an abandonment are grave.[164]
| Name | Pop. | Municipality or raion | Held by | As of | More information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alupka | 8,087 | Yalta Municipality | Russia[165] | 4 Jan 2024 | Captured by Russia on 27 February 2014. |
| Alushta | 30,194 | Alushta Municipality | Russia[165] | 4 Jan 2024 | Captured by Russia on 27 February 2014. |
| Armiansk | 21,239 | Armiansk Municipality | Russia[165] | 4 Jan 2024 | Captured by Russia on 27 February 2014. |
| Bakhchysarai | 26,090 | Bakhchysarai Raion | Russia[165] | 4 Jan 2024 | Captured by Russia on 27 February 2014. |
| Bilohirsk | 16,354[a] | Bilohirsk Raion | Russia[165] | 4 Jan 2024 | Captured by Russia on 27 February 2014. |
| Kerch | 149,566 | Kerch City | Russia[165] | 24 Feb 2022 | Captured by Russia on 27 February 2014. |
| Sevastopol | 509,992 | none[b] | Russia[165] | 24 Feb 2022 | Captured by Russia on 27 February 2014. |
| Simferopol | 332,317 | Simferopol City | Russia[165] | 24 Feb 2022 | Captured by Russia on 27 February 2014. |
| Yalta | 76,746 | Yalta City | Russia[165] | 24 Feb 2022 | Captured by Russia on 27 February 2014. |
| Yevpatoria | 105,719 | Yevpatoria City | Russia[165] | 24 Feb 2022 | Captured by Russia on 27 February 2014. |
During the night of 26–27 February, Russian special forces without insignia departed Sevastopol ... They arrived at the Crimean Rada and Council of Ministers buildings in Simferopol, disarmed the security and took control of the buildings ... Putin later signed a decree designating 27 February as Special Operations Forces Day in Russia.
Media related toAnnexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation at Wikimedia Commons
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