In 1921, the
Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created as part of the
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Throughout its time the Soviet Union, Crimea underwent a population change. As a result of alleged collaboration with the Germans by
Crimean Tatars during
World 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 Soviet
plan to gain access to the
Dardanelles and acquire territory in
Turkey, where the Tatars had Turkic ethnic kin, or to remove minorities from the Soviet Union's border regions. Nearly 8,000 Crimean Tatars died during the deportation, and tens of thousands perished subsequently due to the harsh exile conditions. 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 to
an oblast within the
Russian SFSR on 30 June 1945. On 19 February 1954, the oblast was
transferred from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR jurisdiction, 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" and to commemorate the 300th anniversary of
Ukraine's union with Russia. From 1991, the territory was covered by the
Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol City within independent
Ukraine. In 1994, Russia signed the
Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, which states that it would "Respect Belarusian, Kazakh and Ukrainian independence, sovereignty, and the existing borders".
The Black Sea Fleet and Sevastopol Post-independence, the dispute over control of the
Black Sea Fleet and Sevastopol, the Crimean port city where the fleet was based, was a source of tensions for
Russia–Ukraine relations. Until a final agreement was reached in 1997 with the signing of the
Partition Treaty and
Russian–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.
Sovereignty and geopolitics Despite being an independent country since 1991, the former
Soviet republic
Ukraine has been perceived by
Russia as being part of its
sphere of influence.
Iulian Chifu and his co-authors claimed in a book that in regard to Ukraine, Russia pursued a modernized version of the
Brezhnev Doctrine on "limited sovereignty", which dictates that the sovereignty of Ukraine cannot be larger than that of the
Warsaw Pact prior to the
demise of the
Soviet sphere of influence. This claim is based on statements of Russian leaders that
possible integration of Ukraine into NATO would jeopardize Russia's national security. However, in 2010 president
Yanukovych signed the
Kharkiv Pact amidst
Russia–Ukraine gas disputes.
Evolution of status of the Crimean Peninsula within independent Ukraine Crimean ASSR and Republic of Crimea After the
Crimean referendum of 1991, which asked whether Crimea should be elevated to a signatory of the
New Union Treaty (that is, become a
union 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 became
Supreme Council of Crimea and, on 4 September 1991, passed the Declaration of state sovereignty of Crimea. Following the
dissolution of the Soviet Union, the ASSR renamed itself the
Republic of Crimea. The Ukrainian government initially accepted its name, but not its claims to be a
state. According to Ukrainian law "On status of the autonomous Republic of Crimea", passed on 29 April 1992, "Republic of Crimea is an
autonomous part of Ukraine and independently decides on matters, of its application of the Constitution and laws of Ukraine" (art. 1). The Regional Supreme Council, on the contrary, insisted that "Republic of Crimea is a
legal democratic
state", which "has supremacy in respect to natural, material, cultural and spiritual heritage" and "exercises its sovereign rights and full
power" 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). Both Ukrainian law on autonomy status and the 1992 Constitution of Crimea 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 the
Supreme Soviet of Russia declared 1954 transfer of Crimea as having "no legal force", because it was adopted "in violation of the
Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the Russian SFSR and legislative process", but because subsequent legislation and the
1990 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. A similar resolution was
adopted for Sevastopol a year later. Both moves were condemned by Ukraine and resulted in no changes to the Russian Constitution (neither 1978 nor 1993 documents enumerated Crimea and Sevastopol as federal subjects). In 1994, after
parliamentary and
presidential elections in the Republic, the Supreme Council and the executive became dominated by the
Russian Bloc (which had won 57 seats in the
Supreme Council of Crimea and
Presidency for its member,
Yuri Meshkov). Following a
referendum, held in the same year, the Supreme Council of Crimea restored the 1992 Constitution to its original revision.
Autonomous Republic of Crimea A year later, the 1992 Crimean constitution, along with the presidency and regional citizenship, was declared
null and void by the Ukrainian Parliament, which by that time, had renamed the area from "Republic of Crimea" to
Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Another Constitution was passed by Crimean parliament in 1995, 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. Meanwhile, during drafting of the new Ukrainian Constitution, the question of autonomy was much debated: some legislators proposed abolishing it altogether (downgrading back to
oblast status or to
autonomy but not
autonomous republic), while other legislators proposed legalising the 1992 Constitution of Crimea provisions (original May revision) in the new Ukrainian Constitution. A new Crimean constitution, complying with provisions of the Ukrainian one, was adopted in 1998.
Status of Sevastopol Before the
1954 transfer of Crimea,
Sevastopol was
elevated into a "city of republican subordination" of the Russian SFSR – a predecessor 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, and all its structures, such as local
militsiya departments, etc., were subordinated to oblast structures, and therefore
de facto transferred, too. The
Ukrainian Constitution of 1978 listed Sevastopol as one of its
"cities of republican subordination" (along with Kyiv), whilst the
Russian constitution of the same year did not list Sevastopol as such. In 1993,
the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation issued a
resolution, which "confirms Russian federal status of Sevastopol" and requested a parliamentary commission to prepare and present to
Congress of People's Deputies of Russia corresponding
constitutional amendments, but
1993 Russian constitutional crisis prevented that from happening and initial revisions of the
Constitution of Russia, adopted on 12 December 1993, did not list Sevastopol as a federal subject. Three years later, the
State Duma declared that Russia has a right to exercise sovereignty over Sevastopol, but this resolution went without any actual effect. An
agreement was concluded in 1997 by the Russian and Ukrainian governments, allowing the
Black Sea Fleet to stay in Sevastopol until 2017. Later this was
extended by another 25 years until 2042, with a possible option to extend this period until 2047.
2014 annexation and subsequent developments After the events of
Euromaidan, the referendum and the decision holding it was held during and after Russia's implementation of a military presence in Crimea. 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]". On 14 March, the Crimean status referendum was deemed unconstitutional by the
Constitutional Court of Ukraine, and a day later, the
Verkhovna Rada formally dissolved the Crimean parliament. On 16 March, 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 15 March, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed a resolution to early terminate the powers of the Verkhovna Rada of the ARC, and on 14 March, 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. The peninsula then was annexed by Russia where it was converted into a federal district under the name of
Crimean Federal District. However, the annexation divided the Autonomous Republic and the city of Sevastopol once again into two separate entities: the Autonomous Republic became the
Republic of Crimea as
a Russian republic while
Sevastopol became
a 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 was
under military occupation by Russia itself. The
European Union,
United States,
Canada and several other nations condemned the decision to hold a referendum. In addition, the
Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People—the unofficial political association of the Crimean Tatars—called for a boycott of the referendum. . In 2014,
UN General Assembly adopted 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. Since 2014, the UN General Assembly has voted several times, most recently in December 2019, The
Ministry of
Temporarily Occupied Territories and
Internally displaced persons () is a Ukrainian
government ministry officially established on 20 April 2016 to manage occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea regions affected by Russian military intervention of 2014. In 2021, Ukraine launched the
Crimea Platform, a diplomatic initiative aimed at protecting the rights of Crimean inhabitants and ultimately reversing the annexation of Crimea. Following
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the strategic importance of Crimea increased significantly, serving as a key military base for
Russian operations in southern Ukraine. Ukraine has since launched multiple operations aimed at challenging Russian control over the peninsula, including
targeted strikes on military infrastructure in Crimea. == Stances ==