Political status of Crimea
The Crimean problem or the Crimean question is a dispute over the status of Crimea between Ukraine and Russia.
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. The official results of an internationally unrecognized referendum held during the occupation allegedly indicated overwhelming support for Russian annexation. The Crimean parliament and the autonomous city of Sevastopol unilaterally declared independence from Ukraine to ideally form a country named Republic of Crimea. Russia then annexed the region and created two federal subjects, the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol. 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.
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, and other courts.
History
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.The issue resurfaced in late 2000s over Ukraine asserting its sovereignty and Russia's concern over its western orientation. In 2008, Russia used Sevastopol and the Black Sea Fleet in the Russo-Georgian War and ignored Ukraine regulations, leading to Ukrainian President Yushchenko's declaration that the lease deal would not be extended and that the fleet would have to leave Sevastopol by 2017. However, in 2010 president Yanukovych signed the Kharkiv Pact amidst Russia–Ukraine gas disputes.
In September 2013, Russia warned Ukraine that if it went ahead with a planned Association Agreement with EU, it would face consequences. Sergey Glazyev, adviser to President Vladimir Putin, said that, "Ukrainian authorities make a huge mistake if they think that the Russian reaction will become neutral in a few years from now. This will not happen." Glazyev allowed for the possibility of separatist movements springing up in the Russian-speaking east and south of Ukraine.
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, the Ukrainian SSR restored Crimea's autonomous status, 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". 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, but also a "part of Ukraine and establishes relations in it on a basis of the treaty and agreements". 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 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.
In 1994, after parliamentary and presidential elections in the Republic, the Supreme Council and the executive became dominated by the Russian Bloc. 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 and citizenship. Meanwhile, during drafting of the new Ukrainian Constitution, the question of autonomy was much debated: some legislators proposed abolishing it altogether, while other legislators proposed legalising the 1992 Constitution of Crimea provisions in the new Ukrainian Constitution. Ultimately, the new Constitution of Ukraine adopted neither extreme and reiterated the autonomous status of the republic, while downgrading some of its powers. The Republic was declared to be the "Autonomous Republic of Crimea", but also an "inseparable constituent part of Ukraine". 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", 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.