IB GLOBAL POLITICS THE ANNEXATION OF

CASE STUDY

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MAP

Map taken from the Economist website at https://www.economist.com/europe/2019/06/08/crimea-is-still-in- limbo-five-years-after--seized-it

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INTRODUCTION

Ukraine’s most prolonged and deadly crisis By 2010, ’s fifty richest people since its post-Soviet independence began as a controlled nearly half of the country’s gross protest against the government dropping plans domestic product, writes Andrew Wilson in the to forge closer trade ties with the European CFR book Pathways to Freedom. Union, and has since spurred escalating tensions between Russia and Western powers. A reformist tide briefly crested in 2004 when The crisis stems from more than twenty years of the Orange Revolution, set off by a rigged weak governance, a lopsided economy presidential election won by Yanukovich, dominated by oligarchs, heavy reliance on brought Viktor Yushchenko to the presidency. Russia, and sharp differences between Yet infighting among elites hampered reforms, Ukraine’s linguistically, religiously, and and severe economic troubles resurged with ethnically distinct eastern and western regions. the global economic crisis of 2008. The revolution also masked the divide between After the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovich European-oriented western and central in February 2014, Russia annexed the Crimean Ukraine and Russian-oriented southern and peninsula and the port city of Sevastopol, and eastern Ukraine. deployed tens of thousands of forces near the border of eastern Ukraine, where conflict Campaigning on a platform of closer ties with erupted between pro-Russian separatists and Russia, Yanukovich won the 2010 presidential the new government in Kiev. Russia’s moves, election. By many accounts, he then reverted including reported military support for to the pattern of corruption and cronyism. His separatist forces, mark a serious challenge to family may have embezzled as much as $8 established principles of world order such as billion to $10 billion a year over three years, sovereignty and nonintervention. according to Anders Aslund of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He also Why is Ukraine in Crisis? imprisoned his reformist opponent in the 2010 presidential race, Yulia Tymoshenko, on The country of forty-five million people has charges of abuse of power. struggled with its identity since the dissolution of the in 1991. Ukraine has failed Yanukovich continued talks with the EU on a to resolve its internal divisions and build strong trade association agreement, which he political institutions, hampering its ability to signaled he would sign in late2013. implement economic reforms. In the decade (Tymoshenko’s release was one of the following independence, successive presidents conditions set by the EU for the trade allowed oligarchs to gain increasing control association agreement.) But under pressure over the economy while repression against from Russia, he dropped those plans in political opponents intensified. November, citing concerns about European competition. WWW.GLOPOIB.WORDPRESS.COM 3

The decision provoked demonstrations in Kiev Ukraine is also a major economic partner that on what became known as the Euromaidan by Russia would like to incorporate into its protesters seeking to align their future with proposed Eurasian Union, a customs bloc due Europe’s and speaking out against corruption. to be formed in January 2015 whose likely members include Kazakhstan, Belarus, and The Yanukovich government’s crackdown after . three months of protests, in some cases spurring reprisals by radicalized demonstrators, Ukraine plays an important role in Russia’s caused the bloodiest conflict in the country’s energy trade; its pipelines provide transit to 80 post-Soviet period, with scores killed. percent of the natural gas Russia sends to Yanukovich’s subsequent ouster sowed new European markets, and Ukraine itself is a major divisions between the eastern and western market for Russian gas. Militarily, Ukraine is halves of the country, and fighting between also important to Russia as a buffer state, and pro-Russian separatists and government forces was home to Russia’s Black Sea fleet, based in broke out in April 2014. Separatists in the the Crimean port city of Sevastopol under a regions of Luhansk and Donetsk established bilateral agreement between the two states. self-declared “people’s republics.” Russia considers EU efforts to expand Elections on May 25 brought pro-Western eastward to Ukraine, even through a relatively businessman Petro Poroshenko into power, and limited association agreement, as an alarming he moved to try to reassert central government step that opens the door to others Western control over restive eastern cities. By August, institutions. The EU’s Eastern Partnership the fighting had killed more than 2,000 people Program is aimed at forging tighter bonds with and caused hundreds of thousands to flee their six former Eastern bloc countries, but Russia homes, according to UN officials. Officials in sees it as a stepping stone to organizations Kiev and NATO states accused Russia of such as NATO, whose eastward expansion is arming the separatists and said rebels in regarded by Russia’s security establishment as eastern Ukraine using Russia-supplied ground- a threat. Ukraine belongs to NATO’s to-air missiles were responsible for the Partnership for Peace program, but is seen as downing of a civilian airliner in July 2014, in having little prospect of joining the alliance in which 298 people were killed. Russia denied the foreseeable future. the charges but has continuously deployed thousands of troops near the Ukrainian border Russian president has portrayed his country’s role in Ukraine as safeguarding What are Russia's concerns? ethnic Russians worried by lawlessness spreading east from the capital, charges that Russia has strong fraternal ties with Ukraine leaders in Kiev dismiss as provocations. In the dating back to the ninth century and the case of Crimea, Putin has stressed is founding of Kievan Rus, the first eastern Slavic not imposing its will, but rather, supporting the state, whose capital was Kiev. Ukraine was free choice of the local population, drawing part of Russia for centuries, and the two parallels with the support Western states gave continued to be closely aligned through the to Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence Soviet period, when Ukraine and Russia were from Serbia. Shortly before moving to annex separate republics. “The West must understand Crimea on March 18, Putin told the Russian that, to Russia, Ukraine can never be just parliament that Russia would protect the rights aforeign country,” wrote former U.S. secretary of Russians abroad. of state Henry Kissinger in a Washington Post op-ed WWW.GLOPOIB.WORDPRESS.COM 4

What is the role of the European Union? he peninsula only became part of Ukraine in 1954, when Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev The EU’s Eastern Partnership Program was transferred it from the Russian Soviet Socialist established in 2009 to expand political and Republic to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist economic ties between the EU and Armenia, Republic in what was seen as a largely , Belarus, , Moldova, and symbolic administrative move. The majority- Ukraine, while stopping short of offering Russian residents of Crimea continued to have membership to partner countries. The ill-fated strong ties with Russia. Following the association agreement negotiated by EU dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the two officials and the Yanukovich government new countries reached an agreement to permit involved a comprehensive free-trade deal. A the Russian Black Sea fleet to remain based at number of analysts fault EU officials for the Crimean port of Sevastopol. neglecting the broader geopolitical implications of the deal for Russia, and Overall, Russians make up an estimated 59 declining to map out strategic aims for Europe. percent of the population of Crimea, Ukrainians make up about 23 percent, and After Poroshenko’s election, he pressed Muslim Tatars about 12 percent. forward plans to sign the association agreement and Ukraine did so along with Do Russian moves in Ukraine violate Moldova and Georgia on June 27, 2014. international law? Poroshenko said after signing the agreement: “Ukraine is underlining its sovereign choice in U.S. officials say Russia’s actions in Crimea and favor of membership of the EU.” eastern Ukraine are in breach of international law, including the nonintervention provisions in What is the status of Crimea? the UN Charter; the 1997 Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation between Russia and Ukraine, Prior to the crisis, Crimea was an autonomous which requires Russia to respect Ukraine’s republic of Ukraine of two million people with territorial integrity; and the 1994 Budapest its own parliament and laws that permitted the Memorandum on Security Assurances. Signed use of the in everyday life. by the United States, UK, and Russia, that After the ouster of Yanukovich in February document provided security guarantees to 2014, Crimea’s parliament called for a Ukraine in exchange for relinquishing its referendum, in which the peninsula’s 1.5 million nuclear arsenal. voters opted overwhelmingly for union with Russia. Following that vote, Russian legislators For its part, Russia has rejected charges that it passed a resolution nullifying Ukrainian laws in is violating international law. Crimea and putting in force Russian legislation. Parliament set a deadline of January 1, 2015 for What are U.S. and European policy options the integration of Crimea’s economic, in Ukraine? financial, credit, and legal systems into the Russian Federation, reported Itar-Tass. It said In response to the developments in Crimea and matters related to military service in Crimea eastern Ukraine, EU and U.S. policymakers and Sevastopol will be settled by then as well. have taken a series of steps that include: WWW.GLOPOIB.WORDPRESS.COM 5

Economic aid: The IMF in the spring approved Military aid: The United States has bolstered a loan package for Ukraine for $17 billion over NATO’s air presence over the Baltic states and two years. The EU has delivered hundreds of deployed about six hundred soldiers in Latvia, millions of dollars of an announced $15 billion Lithuania, and Estonia, as well as Poland to support package for Ukraine, with payments train with local forces as part of Operation conditioned on Ukraine enacting tough reforms Atlantic Resolve. NATO secretary-general like ending gas subsidies. Washington has Anders Fogh Rasmussen called the crisis the promised more than $1 billion in U.S. loan greatest threat to European security since the guarantees and technical assistance. In late end of the Cold War, and reasserted alliance August 2014, German chancellor Angela ties with Ukraine through the Partnership For Merkel pledged nearly $700 million in aid to Peace Program. The 2014 NATO summit in help Ukraine rebuild war-damaged areas in the Wales is expected to be dominated by east and aid refugees. the alliance’s response to the crisis in Ukraine.

Sanctions: The United States, the EU, Japan, and Canada have imposed sanctions on scores of Russian and Ukrainian officials and This content is taken directly from the Council businesses said to be linked to the seizure of on Foreign Relations website and is available Crimea and the escalation in tensions. The at measures include travel bans and the freezing https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/ukraine- of assets. The United States and European crisis Union announced more severe measures in late July that blocked some Russian banks from U.S. and European capital markets, and generally target Russian finance, energy, and defense industries. Russia was hit by a slowdown in growth and investment in the first quarter of 2014, and the scope of the new sanctions suggest a substantial, longer-term cost to the Russian economy,says CFR’s Robert Kahn. Russia retaliated by banning imports of food stuffs from the United States and many European states in July 2014.

Energy aid: Some experts and U.S. lawmakers have called for accelerating the approval of U.S. natural gas proposals, which would take advantage of booming U.S. production to help lessen the reliance of European partners and Ukraine on Russian natural gas. U.S. law currently excludes the sale of natural gas to countries that are not free-trade partners, but the Energy Department can approve sales that are deemed in the public interest. But some analysts caution that even with the lifting of export restrictions, it could take years and cost billions of dollars to set up the necessary infrastructure. WWW.GLOPOIB.WORDPRESS.COM 6

'DEAR TO OUR HEARTS'

THE CRIMEAN CRISIS FROM THE KREMLIN'S PERSPECTIVE

The EU and US have come down hard on Russia for its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. But from the perspective of the Kremlin, it is the West that has painted Putin into a corner. And the Russian president will do what it takes to free himself.

Last September, Vladimir Putin invited Russia experts from around the world to a conference, held halfway between Moscow and St. Petersburg. At the gathering, the Russian president delivered a passionate address. "We will never forget that Russia's present-day statehood has its roots in Kiev. It was the cradle of the future, greater Russian nation," Putin said. He added that Russians and Ukrainians have a "shared mentality, shared history and a shared culture. In this sense we are one people."

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At the time, German and European leaders still Or is it the beginning of a wave of re- believed that it would be possible to bind conquests from a country that has seen itself Ukraine to the European Union by way of an for centuries as a hegemonic power in Eastern Association Agreement and to free the country Europe? Is Putin a neo-imperialist or is he just a from Moscow's clutches. But Putin had national leader with his back to the wall, one long before made the decision to prevent such who is merely interested in protecting his an eventuality. country's security interests?

Indeed, he had already used the Crimean Specter of War Peninsula as his stage for a symbolic and vaguely menacing appearance in the summer The world has changed since last week. The of 2012. Astride a three-wheel motorcycle, a Ukraine crisis represents the most recent black-clad Putin was photographed at the culmination of an extended process of head of a group of staunch nationalist bikers. estrangement between Russia and the West. Like a group of modern-day knights, they tore The biggest country in the world will now likely across Ukrainian territory. Even then it was turn its attentions more to China and India. clear who Putin thought was the true leader of Ukraine: himself. In Europe, meanwhile, the specter of war has returned, according to European Parliament Putin knows that the vast majority of Russians President Martin Schulz. are on his side when it comes to his Crimean policy. His cool and calculated -- and thus far "Ever since Putin's speech at the Munich remarkably peaceful -- annexation of the Security Conference in 2007, everyone should peninsula led to celebrations across Russia. have known that Russia would no longer After all, the conviction that Crimea -- with its accept Western games within its sphere of "Hero Cities" of Sevastopol and Kerch in influence," says Fyodor Lukyanov, Chairman of addition to Russia's Black Sea fleet -- is the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Russian soil is widespread and shared even by Defense Policy in Moscow. "But the West never many in the opposition camp. These are took Putin seriously and never developed a places, Putin said in his address last week, that strategy to deal with Russia's legitimate are "dear to our hearts" and for which Russian interests." soldiers fought and died. Even Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mikhail Gorbachev said last The West, says Lukyanov, disregarded every week that the West should accept the results initiative from Moscow to discuss a new of the Crimea referendum. "This should be security regime for Europe, constantly welcomed instead of declaring sanctions," he suspecting that Russia was seeking to drive a said. wedge between Europe and the United States. Putin's proxy, former President Dmitry Putin's popularity rating had already begun Medvedev, even presented a draft for a climbing as a result of the Winter Olympics in European security treaty in 2009, one which Sochi, with even Kremlin-critical pollsters addressed territorial disputes and renounced reporting 67 percent approval. Now, that the use of violence. "We are now paying the number is approaching an astonishing 80 price for not having sat down at the table percent. But what does it mean? Is the then," Lukyanov says. "reunification" with Crimea merely the last twitch of a former Soviet superpower as its successor state Russia rebels against a future as a less meaningful regional power? WWW.GLOPOIB.WORDPRESS.COM 8

Now, when the US and EU threaten to turn Putin has a decisive advantage in the struggle away from Russia, few in Moscow are for Ukraine: He has the initiative. He acts and particularly impressed. Aside from a couple of the West reacts. And Moscow has plenty of billion-dollar deals that benefited both sides, options. people close to Putin say, the only approach from the West consisted in NATO's steady The first option involves Putin making no further eastward advance. Instead of appreciation for advances, an eventuality that many in the West Gorbachev's having ushered in a peaceful end quietly see as the best way to end the crisis. In to the Cold War, the Russian view holds, the exchange for Western toleration of Russia's West has sought to waltz all the way into Red Crimean land grab, Putin would refrain from Square. meddling in eastern Ukraine and would still be able to bask in the admiration of the Russian The view from the windows of the Kremlin is people. first and foremost a geo-political one. During Soviet times, the distance between the Russian But there are other options available. Putin capital and the Western military alliance was could use pro-Russian groups, economic 1,800 kilometers (1,120 miles). Were Ukraine to pressure and his own secret service to become a member of NATO, as the US has destabilize Ukraine to such a degree that it long desired, this distance would be reduced plunges into civil war. For such a scenario, the to less than 500 kilometers. The Russian military weak and chaotic government and parliament is afraid that they would lose once and for all in Kiev are ideal partners, not to mention the the strategic distance that allowed the country radical nationalists who rose to prominence to survive the invasions of both Napoleon and during the Maidan demonstrations. Indeed, the Hitler. divisions within Ukraine are already prominent. It was only due to intense pressure exerted by This fear is partially the result of the traumatic, Berlin and Brussels that the acting government post-Cold War reordering of Eastern Europe. in Kiev abstained from signing a law that would Eight years after the Soviet Union's collapse, have prohibited Ukrainian regions from making Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary Russian a second official language. The joined NATO. In 2004, they were followed by planned measure had triggered outrage in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and the eastern Ukraine. three Baltic states; in 2009, Albania and Croatia followed suit. When NATO intervened One-quarter of all Ukrainian exports go to in the Kosovo War by bombing Belgrade in 1999, Russian, with 2.9 million Ukrainian workers in Russia was furious; Serbia had been a close Russia having sent $3 billion (€2.17 billion) to ally of Moscow's for centuries. In 2008, US relatives back home last year, an amount President George W. Bush's proposal to extend equivalent to roughly 10 percent of the NATO membership to Georgia and Ukraine was country's budget. A Russian boycott would seen by Russia as a humiliation. likely mean a rapid end to the current Ukrainian government, unless the US and Europe were to Plenty of Options jump in with a hefty aid package.

Now, Putin is releasing his people from their As such, Putin could simply play for time in the collective feeling of shame. "If you compress a hopes that sooner or later Ukraine will simply spring all the way to its limit, it will snap back fall into his lap like a ripe fruit -- perhaps even hard," the Russian president said during his a Ukraine bloated by Western aid. Under no address in the Kremlin last Tuesday. circumstances, however, will Putin simply leave Ukraine to the West. WWW.GLOPOIB.WORDPRESS.COM 9

Some close to Putin even believe that the When it comes to Ukraine, Putin feels deceived Russian president would be willing to go to war by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose to prevent that from happening. power instincts he admires, as well as by the US. "The West's true aim is that of toppling the Other Regions? bothersome Putin," says the Moscow-based political scientist Sergei Markov, one of Putin's Hardliners in the Kremlin are urging Putin not to most loyal acolytes. That is why initial sanctions stop at Crimea, arguing that areas that belong targeted the president's billionaire friends. The to Russia anyway should be reunited with the West, he says, is trying to turn Russia's financial motherland. Never before, they say, has the elite against Putin. opportunity been quite as auspicious. Putin's reputation among the Western elite is already 'Can't Treat Us Like That' at a low point and NATO would certainly not risk a nuclear war on Ukraine's account. Kremlin But on the short- and mid-term, at least, leaders are fully aware that Germany's sanctions are likely to strengthen Putin. His willingness to make sacrifices on behalf of, for propaganda machine will present any example, the Russian-speaking industrial city of economic difficulties as being the fault of the Donetsk is rather limited. West, which will likely draw together the country's anti-Western, conservative majority. "Russia should support the pro-Russian areas in Even in Moscow, where never-published southern and eastern Ukraine and establish a surveys from a year ago showed that Putin had line of security from Kharkiv to Odessa, without lost his majority, sanctions will be seen as yet absorbing these areas into the Russian another indignity visited on Russia by the West. Federation," advises political scientist Alexander Nagorny. A referendum could then "First the German and Polish foreign ministers transform Ukraine into a kind of federal state. make appearances on the Maidan, and now Moscow would have influence in Kiev, a NATO they want to punish us for no longer being membership for Ukraine would be prevented willing to simply accept everything," says one and a bloody war avoided. senior bank manager who has never voted for Putin in her life. She wants Putin "to deliver a The West is now attempting to force Putin to strong response so that the West understands back down by way of sanctions. It is a strategy that you can't treat us like that." that is much more comfortable for the US than it is for Europe, with just 1 percent of American Russia, as one proverb would have it, has great trade being conducted with Russia and a lack patience, but its response will be all the more of reliance on Russia oil and natural gas. severe. Russian confronts pressure with Germany's trade with Russia, by contrast, pressure and external critique has traditionally represents 3 percent of Berlin's imports and been met with defiance. In 1830, France angrily exports, with a value of €76.5 billion. One-third protested against czarist Russia's violent of Germany's oil and natural gas imports come crushing of an uprising in areas including from Russia. It has always sounded good when present-day western Ukraine and the Baltic EU politicians insisted that Russia cannot be states. Paris even threatened military action. allowed to have a say in Ukraine's future. But it was never particularly realistic. WWW.GLOPOIB.WORDPRESS.COM P. 10

Renowned Russian poet Alexander Pushkin Russia's recent reaction to European and US penned a response in a poem entitled "To the sanctions was not dissimilar. Putin announced Slanderers of Russia." "What are you sounding that he intended to open an account with off about, you orators of nations? Why do you Rossiya Bank, which had been targeted by threaten Russia with anathema? Leave off: It is Washington, and Kremlin advisors expressed a battle of Slavs amongst themselves, a pride at having been included on the list. Fully domestic, ancient quarrel, already weighed by 353 of the 450 parliamentarians in the Duma fate. A question you will not decide." published a request that they too be added. Not much would seem to have changed in Russia since the times of Pushkin.

Questions to consider: This article was published on Spiegel Online and can What role does play in the be accessed at Russian view of Crimea? https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-look- How can theories of international relations at-the-crimea-crisis-from-the-perspective-of-the- such as structural realism help us to make kremlin-a-960446.html sense of Putin's decision making in regard to the annexation of Crimea? WWW.GLOPOIB.WORDPRESS.COM 11

VIDEO: INSIDE STORY

WHAT HAS RUSSIA GAINED FROM ANNEXING CRIMEA?

This Al-Jazeera English report, presented by Hazem Sika on the fifth anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea, explores what Russia has gained from this and discusses the issue with Ilya Ponomarev - exiled Russian politican; Mark Sleboda - international relations and security analyst Oleksiy Haran - professor at the National University of -Mohyla Academy.

Click the image on the left to watch the video

Questions to consider: How has Russia gained from its annexation of Crimea? What were the costs? Overall, was it worth it? What has been the role of sanctions throughout this period and what can we say about the effectiveness of these sanctions? To what extent does Russia have legitimacy in Crimea? WWW.GLOPOIB.WORDPRESS.COM 12

THE LEGITIMACY OF RUSSIA'S ACTIONS IN UKRAINE IN THIS POST FOR LSE INTERNATIONAL HISTORY, BJÖRN ALEXANDER DÜBEN ANALYSES THE RECENT OUTBREAK OFCONFLICT IN UKRAINE. IN THE ARTICLE, DR DÜBEN EXAMINES RUSSIA’S MILITARY CAMPAIGN IN UKRAINE AND ITSANNEXATION OF UKRAINIAN TERRITORY. DR DÜBEN ARGUES THAT RUSSIA’S CLAIMS TO PARTS OF UKRAINE AND ITSANNEXATION OF TERRITORY IN THE COUNTRY HAS LITTLE BASIS IN HISTORY AND THE PARAMETERS OF INTERNATIONALLAW.

When Russia’s President Vladimir Putin signed the treaty on the ‘Restitution of Crimea and Sevastopol inside the Russian Federation’ on 18 March 2014, Russia became the first state in continental Europe to have annexed part of another state’s territory since the 1940s. The outbreak, shortly thereafter, of separatist violence in eastern Ukraine made it evident that Moscow’s territorial pretensions did not exhaust themselves in the annexation of Crimea. The Russian government has consistently defended its startling moves in Ukraine, denying all accusations that its encroachments on the country’s sovereignty have been illegitimate. Does it have any valid grounds for doing so?

From a legal perspective, the answer is clear: Having forcibly occupied parts of a sovereign country’s territory, having formally annexed the occupied territory, and having flooded another part of the country with heavy weaponry and irregular combatants (‘volunteers’ who were permitted to cross the border in large numbers, as well as regular soldiers), Moscow has acted in violation of some of the most basic principles of international law.

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The clarity of this legal breach was gunmen first began to seize administrative underscored in dozens of UN Security Council buildings across eastern Ukraine in April 2014, sessions devoted to the Ukraine crisis, where and there can be little doubt that Moscow has Russia’s ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, found been stoking it ever since. Moscow has thus himself completely isolated in his legal done its part to initiate and aggravate the very interpretation of the unfolding events. Russia’s humanitarian crisis that it has since used as a moves in Ukraine were not formally approved justification for threatening further by more than a handful of states, and even intervention. some of Russia’s closest allies have refused to recognise Crimea’s de facto shift injurisdiction. Spurious though Moscow’s claims for a Russia’s actions also violate its pledge in the ‘responsibility to protect’ may be, its 1994 Budapest Memorandum to respect intervention in Ukraine has ultimately been Ukrainian sovereignty within its existing based in equal measure on Russia’s purported borders. historical, ethnic, and cultural claims to Crimea and (less explicitly) to large stretches of south- Moscow repeatedly invoked the ‘responsibility eastern Ukraine frequently referred to as to protect’, an increasingly popular concept in ‘Novorossiya’. Few recent conflicts have been the West, as a justification for its intervention in as centrally focused on historical claims and Crimea. However, two factors set Russia’s (mis)representations as the Ukraine crisis. Ukrainian intervention apart from previous Among the Russian public it is commonly interventions carried out by the West: For one, regarded as self-evident that Crimea has the formal annexation of territory, which is historically been Russian territory, but also that entirely unjustifiable in terms of the all of Ukraine is in essence a historical part of ‘responsibility to protect’. And secondly, the Russia – a brother state that owes its existence fact that there was objectively no humanitarian to a mere accident of history. Leaving all legal crisis that would have warranted invoking this concerns aside for a moment, could the case responsibility. Notwithstanding the alarmist be made that Russia has a legitimate historical news broadcast on Russia’s state-controlled and cultural claim to Crimea, or any other part media networks, at the time when Crimea was of Ukraine? What does the Russian case for its seized by Russian forces the peninsula was at interventions in Ukraine look like when taking peace and there was no discernible threat to into account historical and cultural factors the lives and well-being of its inhabitants (a alone? fact that was later confirmed by independent United Nations investigations). Crimea: A “primordially Russian land”

More recently, arguments focused on Russia’s The Crimean peninsula has traditionally had a ‘responsibility to protect’ have featured special status within modern Ukraine. Unlike particularly prominently in Moscow’s demands any other part of the country, it was organised with regard to eastern Ukraine and the as an ‘Autonomous Republic’, enjoying a ongoing conflict there. Unlike in Crimea, the certain degree of political autonomy. Prior to humanitarian crisis in eastern Ukraine has been its formal transfer to the Ukrainian Soviet very real indeed. But Russian irregular Socialist Republic in February 1954, Crimea combatants were apparently involved in had been a part of the Russian Soviet spurring the conflict in eastern Ukraine from Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) within the very beginning, when heavily armed the Soviet Union. Among Russians, it is a commonly-held assumption that Crimea has ‘always’ been a part of Russia. WWW.GLOPOIB.WORDPRESS.COM 14

Vladimir Putin himself, during his 18 March This was a seminal event in the development of address to parliament marking Crimea’s the Eastern Orthodox churches (both in Russia annexation to Russia, declared that “in and in Ukraine), since Vladimir then oversaw people’s hearts and minds, Crimea has always the conversion of the entire Kievan Rus’ to the been an integral part of Russia”. The following Orthodox faith. Notwithstanding the symbolic month, an expedition of the Russian Military importance of this event, which was duly Historical Society visited the peninsula, with invoked by Vladimir Putin in his annexation one of their stated intentions being “to remind speech on 18 March, the period of rule by the the global community that Crimea has always Kievan Rus’ did not leave a deep cultural or been Russian.” As recently as late October, political imprint on Crimea. In the centuries Nikolay Ryzhkov, a prominent member of following the demise of the Rus’ in the 1200s, Russia’s upper house of parliament, claimed the peninsula was the site of sporadic Cossack that Crimea “since ancient times … was raids, but it remained firmly in Tatar and primordially Russian land”. This view is now Ottoman hands. Throughout its history, Crimea extremely common in Russia. It is also totally has thus been a crucible of cultures. It was not false. until 1783 that it became Russian territory, following Catherine the Great’s victory over In actual fact, the Crimean peninsula, for most the Ottomans and her conquest of the Tatar of its history, had nothing to do with Russia. Khanate, and it remained Russian for the next Since antiquity, Crimea’s mountainous south- 170 years. eastern shores have been dominated by Tauri, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Venetian, and In 1954, the Soviet leadership transferred Genoese principalities, before they were Crimea from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian Soviet conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1475. The Socialist Republic (UkrSSR). In spite of frequent vast inland steppes of Crimea were ruled and claims that the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, populated by Scythians, Greeks, Goths, Huns, bypassing all legal norms, single-handedly Bulgars, Khazars, Mongols, and Karaites, and assigned the peninsula to Ukraine, the transfer eventually, from 1441, formed the heartland of was in fact carried out legally and in the Crimean Tatar Khanate, a tributary of the accordance with the 1936 Soviet Constitution Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans and the Tatars (which, admittedly, was in essence a legal continued to rule over their respective parts of fiction). The measure was approved by the the peninsula until 1783. Presidium of the Soviet Communist Party, paving the way for an authorising resolution of Throughout the pre-modern era, Crimea’s only the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, which substantial historical connection to either formally sealed the transfer; by all Russia or Ukraine was the fact that the inland appearances, both the RSFSR and the UkrSSR section of the peninsula was controlled by the gave their consent via their republic Kievan Rus’ – the precursor state of both parliaments. Vladimir Putin’s claim, during his 18 modern Ukraine and Russia – from the mid-10th March address to parliament, that the decision to the early 13th century. At the onset of Kievan to transfer Crimea “was made in clear violation rule (which did not extend to the mountainous of the constitutional norms that were in place south-eastern parts of the peninsula that even then” is patently false.The 1954 transfer of contained its most important settlements and Crimea was most likely motivated both by ports and remained under Byzantine control), tactical considerations on the part of the Crimean city of Chersonesos, now a part of Khrushchev (who was then involved in an Sevastopol, was the site where the leader of internal power struggle for the leadership of the Rus’, Vladimir I. of Kiev, converted to the Communist Party) and by economic and Christianity. infrastructural considerations; the Meeting of WWW.GLOPOIB.WORDPRESS.COM 15

the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Crimea has long occupied a special place in USSR on 19 February 1954 where the transfer the Russian national consciousness, but this was finalised made reference, among other should not obscure the fact that, while its things, to “the commonality of the economy, historical and cultural connection to Ukraine the territorial proximity, and the close has been weak, its historical and cultural economic and cultural ties between the connection to Russia has scarcely been any Crimean Oblast’ and the Ukrainian SSR”. stronger. Even a cursory glance at its history reveals that the recurrent proclamations of For the next six decades, Crimea was formally various Russian officials regarding Crimea’s a part of Ukraine. Its ties to Kiev always “primordial” historical and cultural importance remained somewhat loose, but much the same for Russia range from vast exaggeration to can be said about its ties to Russia throughout downright fantasy. Given that the Kremlin has the preceding seventeen decades when it had invoked such claims in the attempt to justify a been a part of the Russian Empire and the grave violation of international law and RSFSR. Throughout most of these 170 years, intrusion upon another sovereign state, it is while it was politically controlled by Russia, important to spotlight how little they Crimea had remained culturally distinct, and its correspond to historical reality. cultural connection with Russia was relatively tenuous. In spite of substantial Russian colonisation efforts throughout the 19th

century, around 1900 the Tatars still formed the Taken from largest ethnic group on the peninsula. The https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lseih/2015/03/04/does- demographic pre-eminence of ethnic Russians russia-have-a-legitimate-claim-to-parts-of-ukraine/ in Crimea was only firmly solidified following the mass deportation of the entire Crimean Tatar population, as well as the smaller populations of ethnic Armenians, Bulgars, and Greeks, at Joseph Stalin’s behest in 1944. This de facto ethnic cleansing of the peninsula’s native inhabitants led to the death of between 20 and 50 percent of the Crimean Tatar community; the remainder were only able to return to Crimea in the 1990s. WWW.GLOPOIB.WORDPRESS.COM 16

RUSSIAN ROULETTE

VICE NEWS DISPATCHES FROM CRIMEA

CLICK ON THE VIDEOS TO WATCH THE REPORTS

1.Russia's Little Green Men Enter Ukraine Russia has invaded the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine and taken over its civilian and military infrastructure. Not a shot has been fired so far, but Russia is using its superior force to intimidate Ukrainian troops in an attempt to get them to surrender.

Russia claims it wants to stabilize the situation on the peninsula, which has a large Russian population, but Ukraine's new government regards the move as an occupation of its sovereign territory.

2. Sneaking Into A Ukrainian Military Base Angry crowds of Russia supporters as well as Russian military units surrounded and entered Ukraine's Naval High Command in Sevastopol blocking all exits and demanded that its officers switch allegiance to Crimea's new Kremlin-aligned government. Naval Command has so far remained mostly loyal to Kiev, but its fall would represent a significant psychological victory for Russian forces. WWW.GLOPOIB.WORDPRESS.COM 17

3. Getting Stuck on a Ukrainian Battleship The blockade by Russia of Ukrainian military installations in Crimea continues. correspondent Simon Ostrovsky spoke with families of personnel barricaded inside, who complained about the difficulty of getting food past the pro-Russian protesters outside. Russia's supporters explained why they want Crimea to separate from Ukraine, andSimon negotiated his way through a Russian checkpoint to interview an officer on the Slavutych, a Ukrainian battleship stuck in the harbor of Sevastopol.

4. Ship Sinked to Block Port With Crimea's parliament voting to secede from Ukraine, Russia's blockade of Ukrainian military installations in the peninsula has moved seaside. The Russian Black Sea Fleet prepared a special operation: the sinking of a decommissioned ship in the middle of Donuzlav Bay in order to prevent traffic in and out of Crimea's port.

VICE News correspondent Simon Ostrovsky noticed that the unidentified men in military fatigues had suddenly disappeared from the bases — locals said that they'd gone to obstruct a mission of observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) from entering the region.

5. Serbian War Veterans Operating in Crimea As Russians stream into Crimea to help wrestle it away from Ukraine, an unlikely group of Serbian war veterans, who have experience fighting in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo, are turning up at the checkpoints too. VICE News reporter Simon Ostrovsky follows Russian troops as they continue their occupation of Ukrainian military bases, and learns about unidentified men in masks attacking journalists reporting on the situation in the peninsula.

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6. Reporter''s Confrontation at Ukrainian Checkpoints In dispatch six, VICE News correspondent Simon Ostrovsky travels to the Kherson region of mainland Ukraine to both the Ukrainian and Russian checkpoints. At the Ukrainian checkpoint, Simon goes inside one of their tanks, and speaks to the commander, who says that despite his Russian blood he will defend all invaders. But at the Russian checkpoint, the exchange isn't quite as cordial.

7. Pro-Russia & Pro-Ukraine Protesters Face Off In dispatch 7, Simon is back in the Crimean capital of Simferopol, where both pro and anti-Russia demonstrations are dividing the region. Pro-Russia protesters believe that the country's strong economy will help Crimea, while anti-Russia protesters feel that their land has been taken over by bandits.

8. Civilians Clash Over Crimea Referendum As Russia moves 10,000 troops to the Ukrainian border and Crimea prepares for a secession referendum, tension remains high all over Ukraine, especially in the East. On the night of Thursday, March 13 VICE News reporter Robert King captured this scene on the streets of Donetsk, where a large group of pro-Russian activists attacked a group of pro-Ukrainian demonstrators calling for unity

9. Protest Turns Fatal With Crimea's referendum quickly approaching, tension has spread across Ukraine, especially in the east. Before Thursday's protests in Donetsk escalated into violence, VICE News correspondent Robert King interviewed pro-Russia and pro-Ukraine demonstrators about their opinions on the standoff