Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation

The annexation of Crimea by Russia began in February and March 2014, when Russia invaded and subsequently annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol, both recognized by the U.N. as Ukrainian territory, became declared parts of the Russian Federation. The declared annexation is not recognized by Ukraine, the United Nations, and 100 other countries, although it is the defacto government in the region.

The General Assembly, reaffirming the paramount importance of the Charter of the United Nations in the promotion of the rule of law among nations... Calls upon all states, international organizations, and specialized agencies not to recognize any alteration of the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol... ~ UNGA Resolution 68/262

Quotes

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly... Expresses its grave concern over increasing militarization in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol and statements by some Russian officials indicating an intention to deploy nuclear weapons in that region by the Russian Federation, actions which undermine global, European, and regional peace and security... ~ OSCE Parliamentary Assembly

• The Soviet Union fell apart. Things developed so swiftly that few people realized how truly dramatic those events and their consequences would be. ... It was only when the Crimea ended up as part of a different country that Russia realized that it had not only been robbed but plundered. ... And what about the Russian state? What about Russia? It humbly accepted the situation. This country was going through such hard times then that, realistically, it was incapable of defending its interests.
  • Vladimir Putin's speech in St George's Hall of the Kremlin on the annexation of the Crimea, 18 March 2014; quoted in Serhii Plokhy, "The Return of the Empire: The Ukraine Crisis in the Historical Perspective", South Central Review, vol. 35, no. 1 (Spring 2018), p. 111

• In the 21st century, nations cannot; and we cannot allow them to redraw borders by force. These are the ground rules. And if we fail to uphold them, we will rue the day. Russia has violated these ground rules and continues to violate them. Today Russia is occupying sovereign Ukrainian territory. Let me be crystal clear: The United States does not, will not, never will recognize Russia’s attempt to annex the Crimea... It’s that saying; that simple. There is no justification.
  • Joe Biden, remarks by Vice President Joe Biden to The Ukrainian Rada (9 December 2015).

• The territory of Ukraine is indivisible and inviolable.
  • Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine (1991).

• The way that Russia seized Crimea by force from Ukraine this March was hostile and extremely illegal... A poll found that 41 percent of Crimeans wanted the region to become part of Russia. That's an awful lot; but it's still not a majority. Crimea's March referendum on leaving Ukraine for Russia ostensibly garnered 97 percent support, but it occurred in a rush, without international monitors, and under Russian military occupation. A draft U.N. investigative report found that critics of secession within Crimea were detained and tortured in the days before the vote; it also found 'many reports of vote-rigging'. Had the referendum been held in a transparent and legal manner, it's not clear which way the vote would have gone.
  • Max Fisher, "So should Crimea be part of Russia or Ukraine?" (3 September 2014), Vox

• The entire world opposes Russia's annexation of Crimea.
  • Max Fisher, "This quote about Putin's machismo from Angela Merkel is just devastating" (20 May 2015), Vox

• The situation [of agriculturicide] has been especially bad in Siberia and the North Caucasus, but the worst case involves Russian-occupied Crimea. There overly zealous officials have not just banned the sale of livestock owned by peasants but actually destroyed it, thus leaving the rural population without money, food or hope.
  • Paul A. Goble, "Russian Villages aren’t Dying a Natural Death; Moscow is Killing Them, Begiyev Says", Window on Eurasia (July 21, 2019)

• Just what the Crimean Tatars now face under Russian occupation is clear if one compares Ukrainian and Russian laws governing ethnic minorities in Ukraine like the Crimean Tatars. Ukrainian law gives the Crimean Tatars special rights as an indigenous people, but Russian law does not.
  …[the Putin régime's] minions have suppressed Crimean Tatar self-government and some of them have even called for the suppression of the name Crimea because in the words of one Russian official, “Crimea is a Crimean Tatar name.”
  • Paul A. Goble, "Moscow’s Deportation and Denigration of Crimean Tatars Continues, Sidorov Says", Window on Eurasia (May 22, 2024)

• In 2010 the pro-Russian leader of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, opposed any move to take the country closer to NATO or the EU, but within four years he was ousted by pro-western parties in Kiev, precipitating an open civil war in Ukraine’s Russian-speaking eastern provinces, the latter supported by Moscow. Tension was further increased when in 2014 Putin annexed the formerly Russian territory of Crimea, granted to Ukraine in the 1950s. Europe replied with a barrage of economic sanctions, which had no political effect beyond entrenching Russia’s siege economy and bringing Putin closer to his oligarchic associates. The economy switched to import substitution, including the manufacture of domestic mozzarella and camembert. NATO reopened its invitation to Ukraine and conducted military exercises in the Baltic countries. Russia did likewise. Europe slid back into brinkmanship mode. Misjudging Moscow had long been the occupational disease of European diplomacy. It cursed alike Swedes, Poles, Napoleon and Hitler. It now blighted a western alliance divided on how to respond to this newly aggressive Russia.
  • Simon Jenkins, A Short History of Europe: From Pericles to Putin (2018)

• Mr. Putin moved on Ukraine when Barack Obama was no longer a charismatic character but a known quantity with low polls, failing support, a weak economy. He'd taken Mr. Obama's measure during the Syria crisis and surely judged him not a shrewd international chess player but a secretly anxious professor who makes himself feel safe with the sound of his voice.
  • Peggy Noonan, "Warning From the Ukraine Crisis" (16 March 2014), The Wall Street Journal, p. A13

• The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly:
  
  ...19. Considers that the actions by the Russian Federation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, as well as in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, constitute acts of military aggression against Ukraine;
  
  20. Declares that the referendum held in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol on 16 March 2014 had no legal validity, reiterates its call on the Russian Federation to reverse its unlawful annexation of this region, and calls on participating States to refrain from any action or dealing that might be interpreted as recognizing the unlawful annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol;
  
  21. Expresses its grave concern over increasing militarization in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol and statements by some Russian officials indicating an intention to deploy nuclear weapons in that region by the Russian Federation, actions which undermine global, European, and regional peace and security...
  • The Continuation of Clear, Gross and Uncorrected Violations of OSCE Commitments and International Norms by the Russian Federation (Mr. Allison, Canada) (Compromise Supplementary Item)

• The annexation of Crimea became one of the most cynical acts of treachery in modern history.
  • Petro Poroshenko, Address to the Joint Session of the United States Congress (18 September 2014)

• The General Assembly, reaffirming the paramount importance of the Charter of the United Nations in the promotion of the rule of law among nations... Calls upon all states, international organizations, and specialized agencies not to recognize any alteration of the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol...
  • United Nations General Assembly, United Nations General Assembly Resolution 68/262 (1 April 2014).

• The presence of Russian occupiers in Crimea is a threat to the entire Europe and to global stability. The Black Sea region cannot be safe as long as Crimea is occupied. There will be no stable and lasting peace in many countries on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea as long as Russia is able to use our peninsula as its military base. This Russian war against Ukraine and against the entire free Europe began with Crimea and must end with Crimea — with its liberation. Today it is impossible to say when this will happen. But we are constantly adding the necessary components to the formula of liberation of Crimea.
  • Volodymyr Zelenskyy, "Russian war against Ukraine and the entire free Europe began with Crimea and must end with it" (9 August 2022)