Political status of Crimea

For the 1850s dispute on the peninsula between Russia and an international coalition, see Crimean War.
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Crimea
Autonomous Republic of Crimea
(within Ukraine, 1991–present)
Republic of Crimea
(territory occupied by Russia 2014–present)
See also
Political status of Crimea
Politics of Russia • Politics of Ukraine

The Crimean problem (Russian: Проблема Крыма; Ukrainian: Кримська проблема, romanized: Krymska problema) or the Crimean question (Russian: Крымский вопрос; Ukrainian: питання Криму, romanized: pytannia Krymu) is a dispute over the status of Crimea between Ukraine and Russia.[1][2][3][4][5]

The dispute began during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, but did not escalate into a conflict until the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, when Russian special forces were deployed to occupy Crimea and took over its government buildings.[6][7][8] The official results of an internationally unrecognized referendum held during the occupation allegedly indicated overwhelming support for Russian annexation.[9] The Crimean parliament and the autonomous city of Sevastopol unilaterally declared independence from Ukraine[10][11] to ideally form a country named Republic of Crimea. Russia then annexed the region and created two federal subjects, the Republic of Crimea (as a republic) and Sevastopol (as a federal city). Ukraine and the majority of the international community continue to regard Crimea as occupied Ukrainian territory; a United Nations General Assembly resolution 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 under de facto Russian control. Ukraine has attempted to resolve the matter by filing litigation in multiple international criminal, environmental, political (European Union), and other courts.

  1. ^ Marples, David R.; Duke, David F. (1995). "Ukraine, Russia, and the Question of Crimea". Nationalities Papers. 23 (2): 261–289. doi:10.1080/00905999508408377. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  2. ^ Fediw, Bohdan (2000). "The Crimean Problem: Post-Independence Ukraine's Regional Instability". World Affairs: The Journal of International Issues. 4 (2): 76–88. JSTOR 45064704. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  3. ^ Sasse, Gwendolyn (2007). The Crimea Question: Identity, Transition, and Conflict. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-1-932650-01-3. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  4. ^ Markedonov, Sergei (16 January 2015). "The Crimean 'question'". openDemocracy. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  5. ^ Bremmer, Ian (23 January 2023). "The Crimea problem". GZERO Media. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  6. ^ How Russia Took Crimea Archived 22 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine Macias, Amanda (2015). Business Insider. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
  7. ^ Putin Admits Russian Forces Were Deployed to Crimea Archived 19 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine Reuters (2014). Retrieved August 1, 2017.
  8. ^ De Carbonnel, Alissa (13 March 2014). "RPT-INSIGHT-How the separatists delivered Crimea to Moscow". Reuters. Archived from the original on 13 November 2020. 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
  9. ^ "Crimea Overwhelmingly Supports Split From Ukraine To Join Russia". NPR. 16 March 2014.
  10. ^ "Crimean Parliament Votes to Join Russia". Voice of America. 6 March 2014.
  11. ^ "Crimean Parliament Votes to Join Russia, Sets Referendum Date". NBC News. 6 March 2014.
  12. ^ UN (2014). Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 27 March 2014. United Nations Press. Archived from the original on 6 October 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2022.