Russian occupation of Crimea
Since 2014, Russia has occupied the Crimean Peninsula, a part of Ukraine. On 27 February 2014, Russia sent soldiers in unmarked uniform to Crimea to take control of it, starting the Russo-Ukrainian war. This military occupation paved the way for the Russian annexation of Crimea on 18 March 2014. While the Russian government deems Crimea to be part of the Russian Federation, Ukraine and most of the international community see it as an occupied territory of Ukraine.
The occupation began during Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, which ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. Russian special forces, disguised as "Crimean self-defense forces", took control of Crimea's government buildings, surrounded Ukrainian military bases, and blockaded the peninsula. Russia denied involvement at the time, but Putin later admitted that they were Russian troops. A pro-Russian government was installed and a referendum on Crimea's status was held under occupation. According to the Russian-installed authorities, the result was in favour of joining Russia. Russia annexed Crimea on 18 March 2014, re-organizing it as a Russian republic and turning Sevastopol into a Russian federal city. Russia also claimed an exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea around Crimea. This zone is three times bigger than the peninsula and holds vast natural gas and oil reserves. The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution affirming the "territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders", and the UN considers Crimea to be Russian-occupied.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of mainland Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has used Crimea as a base from which to attack mainland Ukraine. The Ukrainian military has responded with attacks on Russian forces in Crimea. One of Russia's preconditions for ending the invasion has been the recognition of Russian claims to Crimea, while one of Ukraine's goals is to liberate the territory, by military means if necessary.
The United Nations Human Rights Office stated that Russia has committed serious human rights violations in occupied Crimea. This includes severely curbing the right to freedom of speech, assembly and religion; arbitrary arrest and detention; and forced disappearance. Ethnic Ukrainians and Crimean Tatar Muslims have suffered discrimination and repression. Residents who did not accept Russian citizenship lost their right to live and work in Crimea. Russia has also been accused of neo-colonialism by enforced Russification and by settling large numbers of Russians in Crimea and pushing out Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars.
History
Russian planning
In early February 2014, as the protests in Ukraine seemed likely to collapse the government, the Kremlin received a strategy paper outlining plans for the occupation and annexation of Crimea. The documents said that the Ukrainian government and president Viktor Yanukovych would not last. They proposed that Russia should foster separatism in Crimea and other eastern provinces, and should begin work on taking control of them. On 21 February 2014, Ukrainian president Yanukovych secretly fled the capital, and the next day, parliament voted to remove him from office. Russia's leadership was reportedly worried that its Sevastopol Naval Base in Crimea might be at risk under a new Ukrainian government that was committed to closer ties with the West. On 22–23 February 2014, Russian president Vladimir Putin held an all-night meeting with security chiefs to discuss the crisis. At the end of that meeting, Putin said: "we must start working on returning Crimea to Russia".Russia took advantage of the uncertainty in Ukraine immediately after the ousting of Yanukovych. On 26 February, Putin ordered the Russian Armed Forces to be "put on alert in the Western Military District as well as units stationed with the 2nd Army Central Military District Command involved in aerospace defence, airborne troops and long-range military transport". Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu denied that this was related to events in Ukraine.
Russian military takeover
Early on 27 February 2014, Russian special forces began to occupy Crimea, wearing unmarked uniforms to hide their origin. They were referred to as "little green men". The soldiers had set out from the Russian base in Sevastopol and travelled to the capital Simferopol. There, they seized the Crimean parliament building and the Council of Ministers building. Russian flags were raised over them and barricades were erected. A military checkpoint, with a Russian flag and Russian military vehicles, was set up on the main highway between Sevastopol and Simferopol.Hours after the takeover began, the Crimean parliament held an emergency session while the armed men occupied the building. It voted to dismiss the Crimean government, and replace Prime Minister Anatolii Mohyliov with Sergey Aksyonov; a member of the Russian Unity party, which received only 4% of votes in the last election. Under the Constitution of Ukraine, the prime minister of Crimea is appointed by the Crimean parliament in consultation with the president of Ukraine. Both Aksyonov and speaker Vladimir Konstantinov stated that they viewed Viktor Yanukovych as the de jure president of Ukraine. The parliament also voted to hold a referendum on Crimea's political status, set for 25 May. Historian Andrew Wilson and journalist Luke Harding called this the "Crimean coup".
The troops had cut all of the building's communications, and took MPs' phones as they entered. No independent journalists were allowed inside the building while the votes were held. Some MPs said they were threatened and that votes were cast for them and other MPs, even though they were not in the chamber. Interfax-Ukraine reported that there was no way to know how many MPs were present, and whether they voted themselves or if someone else used their voting cards. The head of parliament's information department, Olha Sulnikova, phoned journalists from inside the building, telling them 61 of the registered 64 deputies had voted for the referendum resolution and 55 for the resolution to dismiss the government. These votes were immediately declared illegal by the Ukrainian interim government.
Russian FSB colonel Igor Girkin, one of the commanders of the soldiers, said in January 2015 that Crimean MPs were held at gunpoint and forced to vote in favor. Girkin said:
"Unfortunately I did not see any support from the authorities in Simferopol where I was... It was militants who collected deputies and forced them to vote. Yes, I was one of the commanders of those militants. I saw that from the inside".
File:Berkut mans a checkpoint at the entrance to the Crimea Peninsular, March 10, 2014.jpg|thumb|Armed men in Berkut uniform guarding a checkpoint at Chonhar, on the border of mainland Ukraine and Crimea, 10 March 2014
The same day, more unmarked troops set up security checkpoints on the Isthmus of Perekop and the Chonhar Peninsula, which separate Crimea from the Ukrainian mainland. They were helped by what appeared to be local Berkut riot police, as well as Russian troops from the 31st Separate Airborne Assault Brigade dressed in Berkut uniforms. Within hours, Ukraine had been cut off from Crimea. Ukrainian TV channels became unavailable for Crimean viewers, some replaced with Russian stations. On 29 February, unmarked Russian special forces occupied Crimea's airports and communications centers.
On 1 March 2014, Aksyonov said that he would exercise control of all Ukrainian military and security installations on the peninsula. He also asked Putin for "assistance in ensuring peace and tranquillity" in Crimea. Putin promptly received authorisation from the Federation Council of Russia for a Russian military intervention in Ukraine until the "political-social situation in the country is normalized". Ukraine's prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, said that Russian military intervention would be the beginning of war.
An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council was held on 2 March 2014 to discuss the crisis. Ukrainian ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev said that Russia was committing "an act of aggression against the state of Ukraine". He stated that Russia had broken the Budapest agreement and called on the other signatories to provide the assistance they had agreed to. Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin accused the US and EU of "encouraging" the protests that had led to the ousting of Ukrainian president Yanukovych. He denied that Russian forces had invaded Crimea. US Ambassador Samantha Power told the session that Russia had violated Ukraine's sovereignty and called for the "immediate deployment" international monitors from the UN and the Organization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe.
By 2 March, Russian troops were in full control of Crimea, having deployed from the naval base in Sevastopol and reinforced by troops, armour, and helicopters from mainland Russia. On 3 March they blockaded the Southern Naval Base.
On 4 March, the Ukrainian General Staff said there were Russian units of the 18th Motor Rifle Brigade, 31st Air Assault Brigade and 22nd Spetsnaz Brigade deployed and operating in Crimea, not only Russian Black Sea Fleet personnel, which violated international agreements signed by Ukraine and Russia.
At a press conference on 4 March, president Putin said that Russia had no plans to annex Crimea. He also said that it had no plans to invade Ukraine, but that it might intervene if Russians in Ukraine were threatened. This was part of a pattern of public denials of the ongoing Russian military operation.
Numerous media reports and statements by the Ukrainian and foreign governments noted the identity of the unmarked troops as Russian soldiers, but Russian officials concealed the identity of their forces, claiming they were local "self-defence" units over whom they had no authority. As late as 17 April, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said that there were no "excessive Russian troops" in Ukraine. At the same press conference, Putin said of the peninsula that "only citizens themselves, in conditions of free expression of will and their security can determine their future". Putin later acknowledged that he had ordered "work to bring Crimea back into Russia" as early as February. He also acknowledged that in early March there were "secret opinion polls" held in Crimea, which, according to him, reported overwhelming popular support for Crimea's incorporation into Russia.
File:Medal For the Return of Crimea revers.png|thumb|upright|Medal of the Russian Defense Ministry "For the return of Crimea", 20 February – 18 March 2014
Russia eventually admitted its troops' presence. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the country's military actions in Crimea were undertaken by forces of the Black Sea Fleet and were justified by "threat to lives of Crimean civilians" and danger of "takeover of Russian military infrastructure by extremists". Ukraine complained that by increasing its troop presence in Crimea, Russia violated the agreement under which it headquartered its Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol and violated the country's sovereignty. The United States and United Kingdom accused Russia of breaking the terms of the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, by which Russia, the US, and the UK had reaffirmed their obligation to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine. The Russian government said the Budapest Memorandum did not apply due to "circumstances resulting from the action of internal political or socio-economic factors". In March 2015, retired Russian Admiral stated that according to his information the Russian troop deployment in Crimea included six helicopter landings and three landings of an IL-76 with 500 people.