History
Ten years ago, Russia's annexation of Crimea
On March 18, Moscow celebrates the tenth anniversary of the “day of the reunification of Crimea with Russia”.
A few days after the pro-European revolution in kyiv, Russian troops were deployed on the Ukrainian peninsula.
Following a referendum not recognized by the international community, the Russian government, in defiance of international law, made the Ukrainian peninsula and the city of Sevastopol two new subjects of the Russian Federation.
A woman walks past a campaign poster for Crimea's March 16 self-determination referendum, in Sevastopol March 10, 2014. REUTERS/Baz Ratner
By: Anastasia Becchio
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Ten years after its annexation by
Russia
, occupied Crimea is today one of the priority objectives of the Ukrainian armed forces, which regularly carry out impressive attacks there, hitting Russian military ships and increasing missile and drone fire. .
kyiv's goal remains to retake the peninsula, but the task is not the easiest, as Crimea represents a strategic, military, historical and cultural interest for Moscow.
“In the hearts, in the minds of people, Crimea has always been and remains an integral part of Russia
,” declared Vladimir Putin on March 18, 2014, in front of the deputies of the Duma, the members of the Federation Council, the leaders of Russian regions and representatives of civil society gathered in the Kremlin.
“Crimea is our common good and the most important factor of stability in the region.
This strategic territory must be placed under strong and lasting sovereignty, which can only be Russian today
,” continued the president, during the ceremony, which sealed the return of Crimea to the fold of Moscow.
Less than a month had passed since
the pro-European Maidan revolution
and the flight of President Yanukovych to Russia via Crimea on February 22, 2014.
A year after these events, Vladimir Putin told in the film
Crimea.
The Way Back to the Homeland
, broadcast on the first Russian television channel, that he had made the decision to invade Crimea on the night of February 22 to 23, explaining to those around him:
"the situation has evolved from such a way in
Ukraine
, that we are obliged to start working on the return of Crimea to Russia, because we cannot throw this territory and the people living there at the mercy of fate under the steamroller of nationalists”
.
The Russian offensive to retake Crimea had, in fact, begun well before these events, believes Dmytro Belotserkovets, former Euromaidan activist in Sevastopol, ex-MP of the Rada, now municipal councilor of kyiv.
According to him,
"Russian intelligence services"
began to
"manipulate public opinion"
of Crimean residents from the mid-2000s, after the Orange Revolution, citing the takeover of local media by Russian capital, investment in social networks with the dissemination of false information and the financing of pro-Russian organizations.
“Little Green Men”
On February 27, 2014, in the early morning, armed men in uniforms without insignia seized the buildings of the Supreme Council and the government of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
White-blue-red flags are hoisted on buildings.
After having denied it publicly, Vladimir Putin would later end up recognizing that these “little green men”, also nicknamed “the polite men” were indeed Russian soldiers.
During an extraordinary session of Parliament, the leader of the confidential “Russian Unity” party, Sergei Axionov, was appointed Prime Minister of Crimea.
On March 1, he declared, before the new government, that
"given the difficult situation"
, he asked Vladimir Putin to intervene to "preserve peace and calm".
Russian troops, volunteers and Cossacks quickly block all Ukrainian barracks and military installations in Crimea and Sevastopol, which refuse to obey the new rulers of the peninsula.
“
The indecision of Ukrainian political leaders
”
,
a few days later, the “revolution of dignity” played a determining role, according to Dmytro Bilotserkovets.
Today, advisor to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, he was, at the time, a young pro-Ukrainian activist in Sevastopol: “
When I asked the Ukrainian soldiers why they did not open fire in accordance with the regulations, they m "replied that they were waiting for orders from Kiev
.
"
Repression of dissenting voices
Taking advantage of this political instability in Ukraine, Moscow imposes its agenda and relies on local pro-Russian forces.
FSB agents hunt down dissenting voices, particularly in the ranks of pro-European activists and representatives of the Crimean Tatars, hostile to joining Russia.
The local Parliament of Crimea, dominated by pro-Russians, announces the organization of a referendum for March 16.
A week earlier, on March 9, several hundred people gathered in front of the monument to the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko in Sevastopol, to protest against this illegal consultation under Ukrainian law.
“
It was our last demonstration.
There were nearly a thousand of us, an honorable figure, in a context of repression
,
”
underlines Dmytro Bilotserkovets, who remembers that nearly 500 Cossacks then attacked the football supporters, who had been recruited to provide security. of the demonstration.
He himself was kidnapped on the sidelines of the rally, but managed to escape his kidnappers, before being forced to flee Crimea a few days later.
On March 16,
96.77% of voters in Crimea and 95.6% of voters in Sevastopol, according to official results, voted for joining Russia.
Under Ukrainian and international law, this referendum was illegal;
it took place in the absence of international OSCE observers and Ukraine's supporters did not take part.
Russia brandished the United Nations Charter and the right of peoples to self-determination.
In its wake, the Duma adopted the law on the accession of the Ukrainian peninsula and on March 18, Vladimir Putin officially welcomed two new subjects of the Russian Federation, Crimea and the “city of federal significance” of Sevastopol, congratulating them on the fact that they have
“returned to their home port”.
Russian, since the armies of Catherine II dislodged the Crimean Khanate, protectorate of the Ottoman Empire, at the end of the 18th century,
Crimea was offered by Nikita Khrushchev to the Socialist Republic of Ukraine, in 1954
, for celebrate the tercentenary of the Treaty of Pereyaslav, by which the Cossacks of Ukraine proclaimed their allegiance to Moscow.
This week, a Russian deputy and a senator, Konstantin Zatulin and Sergeï Tsekov introduced into the Duma a bill aimed at invalidating Nikita Khrushchev's decision, which should make it possible, according to the wishes of the authors of the text, to "break the
propaganda current Ukrainian authorities, who are actively introducing the thesis of the
" occupation" of Crimea by Russia in 2014 into the consciousness of their own population and the whole world
.
Two years after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the recapture of the peninsula is a priority objective of the kyiv authorities.
Ukrainian armed forces are carrying out daring attacks in the region, which constitutes a key rear base for the conduct of Russia's war in Ukraine.
“
We must liberate Crimea from occupation
,” declared Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenzsky, “
this is where it all began and this is where it will end
.
”
Crimea.
© RFI
Also read: Our series on the Disputed Territories
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