Republic of Crimea

Prime Minister of the Crimean Regional Government Solomon Krym, 1919

Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet "About the transfer of the Crimean Oblast", 1954

Crimea was first annexed by the Russian Empire in April 1783, under the Russian Empress Catherine the Great. While ostentibly recognised by the Ottoman Empire in December that year, the annexation sowed tensions which ultimately contributed to the outbreak of Russo-Turkish war of 1787–1792, in which the Ottoman Empire attempted to reverse it, but to no avail: the 1792 Treaty of Jassy, which formally ended the war, reaffirmed the 1783 annexation again. From 1802, Crimea constituted a southern part of the Taurida Governorate of the Russian Empire until the collapse thereof in 1917. During the Russian Civil War (1917–1921) Crimea changed hands multiple times, being inter alia the last territory held by the White Russian government in the European part of Russia in 1920, and finally became an autonomous republic within Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) in 1921.

During World War II, in 1944, the central Soviet authorities deported the Crimean Tatars for alleged collaboration with the Nazi occupation regime; in 1945, the region was stripped of its autonomy status.

The "Big Three" at the Yalta Conference in Crimea: Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin.

In 1954, the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet transferred the region from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, another constituent republic of the USSR, then a highly centralised state, wherein borders between constituent republics was a technical issue of administration, despite the fact that Ukraine was a separate member of the UN. The Crimean Tatars were allowed to return to Crimea in the mid-1980s under perestroika.[23]

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Crimea became part of the newly independent Ukraine, which led to tensions between Russia and Ukraine.[nb 1] With the Black Sea Fleet based on the peninsula, worries of armed skirmishes were occasionally raised. Crimean Tatars began returning from exile and resettling in Crimea. Ukraine restored Crimea's autonomous status in 1991. Crimea's autonomous status was re-affirmed in 1996 with the ratification of Ukraine's current constitution, which designated Crimea as the "Autonomous Republic of Crimea", but also an "inseparable constituent part of Ukraine".[25]

On 11 March 2014, the Crimean parliament and the Sevastopol City Council jointly issued a letter of intent to unilaterally declare independence from Ukraine in the event of a 'Yes' vote in the referendum to join the region to Russia, that was to be held on 16 March.[26] The document specifically mentioned Kosovo as a precedent in the lead part.[26]

The referendum on the status of Crimea allowed citizens to vote on whether Crimea should apply to join Russia as a federal subject of the Russian Federation, or restore the 1992 Crimean constitution and Crimea's status as a part of Ukraine. The available choices did not include keeping the status quo of Crimea and Sevastopol as they were at the time the referendum was held.[27]

On 16 March 2014, according to the organizers of Crimean status referendum, a large majority (reported as 96.77% of the 81.36% of the population of Crimea who voted) voted in favour of independence of Crimea from Ukraine and joining Russia as a federal subject.[28][29] The referendum was not recognized by most of the international community and the reported results were disputed by numerous independent observers.[30][31][32][33][34] The BBC reported that most of the Crimean Tatars that they interviewed were boycotting the vote.[28] Reports from the UN criticised the circumstances surrounding the referendum, especially the presence of paramilitaries, self-defence groups and unidentifiable soldiers.[35] The European Union, Canada, Japan and the United States condemned the vote as illegal.[28][36]

After the referendum, Crimean lawmakers formally voted both to secede from Ukraine and applied for their admission into Russia. The Sevastopol City Council, however, requested the port's separate admission as a federal city.[37]

Diagram showing the merge, short-lived independence, and separation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol that led to the Republic of Crimea becoming a federal subject of Russia.

On 18 March 2014, the self-proclaimed independent Republic of Crimea signed a treaty of accession to the Russian Federation. The accession was granted but separately for each the former regions that composed it: one accession for the Autonomous Republic of Crimea as the Republic of Crimea—the same name as the short-lived self-proclaimed independent republic—and another accession for Sevastopol as a federal city. The accession was only recognised internationally by a few states with most regarding the action as illegal. Ukraine refused to accept the annexation, still the Ukrainian military began to withdraw from Crimea on 19 March.[38] A transition period, during which both parties to the accession treaty were to resolve the issues of integration of the new subjects "in the economic, financial, credit and legal system of the Russian Federation", was set to last until 1 January 2015.

The integration process started within days: on 24 March the Russian ruble went into official circulation with parallel circulation of the Ukrainian hryvnia permitted until 1 January 2016, however, taxes and fees were to be paid in rubles only, and the wages of employees at budget-receiving organisations were to be paid out in rubles as well.[39] On 29 March, the clocks in Crimea were moved forward to Moscow time[40] and on 31 March the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced a series of programmes aimed at swiftly incorporating the territory into Russia's economy and infrastructure. The creation of a new ministry for Crimean affairs was announced too.[41] Also on 31 March, the Russian Foreign Ministry declared that foreign citizens visiting Crimea needed to apply for a visa to the Russian Federation at one of Russian diplomatic missions or its consulates.[42]

On 3 April 2014, Moscow sent a diplomatic note to Ukraine on terminating the actions of agreements concerning the deployment of the Russian Federation's Black Sea Fleet on the territory of Ukraine. As part of the agreements, Russia used to pay the Ukrainian government $530 million annually for the base, and wrote off nearly $100 million of Kyiv's debt for the right to use Ukrainian waters. Ukraine also received a discount of $100 on each 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas imported from Russia, which was provided for by cutting export duties on the gas, money that would have gone into the Russian state budget. The Kremlin declared that because the base is no longer located in Ukraine, so there are no legal grounds for the discount to be continued.[43]

Simferopol, Crimea, 9 May 2019, the celebration of the Victory Day

On 3 April 2014, Crimea and the city of Sevastopol became part of Russia's Southern Military District.

On 11 April 2014, the parliament of Crimea approved a new constitution, with 88 out of 100 lawmakers voting in favor of its adoption.[44] The constitution confirms the Republic of Crimea as a democratic state within the Russian Federation and declares both territories united and inseparable. The Crimean Parliament will become smaller and have 75 members instead of the current 100.[45] According to the Kommersant newspaper, the authorities, including the State Council chair Vladimir Konstantinov, unofficially promised that certain quotas would be reserved for Crimean Tatars in various government bodies. On the same day, a new revision of the Russian Constitution was officially published, with the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol included in the list of federal subjects of the Russian Federation.[46]

On 12 April 2014, the Constitution of the Republic of Crimea, adopted at the session of the State Council on 11 April, entered into legal force. The constitution was published by the Krymskiye Izvestiya newspaper, becoming law on the publication date, the State Council of Crimea said. The Constitution consists of 10 chapters and 95 articles; its main regulations are analogous to the articles of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The text proclaims the Republic of Crimea is a democratic, legal state within the Russian Federation and an equal subject of the Russian Federation. The source of power in the Crimean Republic is its people, which constitutes to the multinational nation of the Russian Federation. It is noted that the supreme direct manifestation of the power of the people is referendum and free elections; seizure of power and appropriation of power authorization are unacceptable.

On 15 April 2014, the Ukrainian Parliament declared Crimea and the city of Sevastopol "occupied territories".[47]

On 1 June 2014, Crimea officially switched over to the Russian ruble as its only form of legal tender.[48]

On 7 May 2015, Crimea switched its phone codes (Ukrainian number system) to the Russian number system.[49]

In July 2015, Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, declared that Crimea had been fully integrated into Russia.[50]

After annexation, Crimean authorities started nationalization of what they called strategically important enterprises, which included not only transportation and energy production enterprises, but also, for example, a wine factory in Massandra. The enterprises which belonged to Russian citizens were nationalized against financial reimbursement, which was, however, much lower than the actual value; those which belonged to Ukrainian citizens, for example, PrivatBank owned by Ihor Kolomoyskyi or Ukrtelecom owned by Rinat Akhmetov, were expropriated without any reimbursement. The future of the nationalized enterprises is decided by the government.[51]

In July 2016 Crimea ceased to be a separate federal district of Russian Federation and was included into the Southern federal district instead.[52][53]

• Marine Corps of the Russia "little green men"
• Baherove (air base)
• Theodosius-13
• Southern Naval Base

The Republic of Crimea continues to use the administrative divisions previously used by the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and is thus subdivided into 25 regions: 14 districts (raions) and 11 city municipalities (gorodskoj sovet or gorsovet), officially known as territories governed by city councils.[61]

Raions 1. Bakhchysarai Raion 2. Bilohirsk Raion 3. Dzhankoy Raion 4. Kirovske Raion 5. Krasnohvardiiske Raion 6. Krasnoperekopsk Raion 7. Lenine Raion 8. Nyzhnohirskyi Raion 9. Pervomaiske Raion 10. Rozdolne Raion 11. Saky Raion 12. Simferopol Raion 13. Sovietskyi Raion 14. Chornomorske Raion

City municipalities 15. Alushta Municipality 16. Armyansk Municipality 17. Dzhankoy Municipality 18. Yevpatoria Municipality 19. Kerch Municipality 20. Krasnoperekopsk Municipality 21. Saky Municipality 22. Simferopol Municipality 23. Sudak Municipality 24. Feodosia Municipality 25. Yalta Municipality

If considered to be a part of Russia, then Crimea is one of two parts of European Russia that have no land connection to the rest of the country, the other being Kaliningrad Oblast on the Baltic Sea. Being a semi-exclave, the peninsula is connected to the rest of Russia by a multibillion-dollar road–rail fixed link across the Kerch Strait,[62] dubbed Crimean Bridge by the Russian government. The link is operational for road traffic since 2018, and for rail traffic since 2019 (passenger) and 2020 (freight).[63]

If Crimea is considered separate from Ukraine, which continues to claim sovereignty over the peninsula, then Ukraine is the only country with which it shares a land border, with a number of road and rail connections. These crossings have been under the control of Russian troops since at least mid-March 2014.

Interior of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Yalta.

According to the 2014 Crimean Federal District census, the ethnic makeup of the population of the whole Crimean Federal District at the time comprised the following self-reported groups:

• Russians: 1,188,978 (65.2%)
• Ukrainians: 291,603 (16.0%)
• Crimean Tatars: 229,526 (12.6%)
• Tatars: 42,254 (2.3%)
• Belarusians: 17,919 (1.0%)
• Armenians: 9,634 (0.5%)

According to the 2014 census, 84% of Crimean inhabitants named Russian as their native language; 7.9% named Crimean Tatar; 3.7% Tatar and 3.3% Ukrainian. The previous census was held more than decade ago in 2001, when Crimea was still controlled by Ukraine.[64]

According to the Constitution of the Republic of Crimea:[65]

Article 10

1. Official languages of the Republic of Crimea are Russian, Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar.

According to the Republic of Crimea Ministry of Education, Science, and Youth,[66] most primary and secondary school pupils have decided to study in Russian in 2015.

• In Russian - 96.74%
• In Crimean Tatar - 2.76%. 5083 pupils (+188 to 2014 year) study in Crimean Tatar language in 53 schools in 17 districts. 37 1st grade classes of primary school have been opened.
• In Ukrainian - 0.5%. 949 pupils study in Ukrainian language in 22 schools in 13 districts. 2 1st grade classes of primary school have been opened.

Its Education Minister Natalia Goncharova announced mid-August 2014 that (since no parents of first-graders wrote an application for learning Ukrainian) Crimea had decided not to form Ukrainian language classes in its primary schools.[67] Goncharova said that since more than a quarter of parents at the Ukrainian gymnasium in Simferopol had written an application to teach children in Ukrainian; this school might have Ukrainian language classes.[67] Goncharova also added that the parents of first-graders had written application for learning the Russian language, and (in areas inhabited by Crimean Tatars) for learning Crimean Tatar.[67] Goncharova stated on 10 October 2014 that at that time Crimea had 20 schools where all subjects were conducted in Ukrainian.[68]

A report (realised in the summer of 2015) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) claimed that the Republic of Crimea had the aim to "end the teaching of Ukrainian" by "pressure on school administrations, teachers, parents, and children".[69]

The majority of the Crimean population adheres to the Russian Orthodox Church, with the Crimean Tatars forming a Sunni Muslim minority, besides smaller Roman Catholic, Ukrainian Greek Catholic, Armenian Apostolic and Jewish minorities. In 2013, Orthodox Christians made up 58% of the Crimean population, followed by Muslims (15%, mainly Tatars) and believers without religion (10%).[70]

Catholic church in Eupatoria

A Sunni mosque in Yevpatoriya

Orthodox church in Yalta

In March 2014 Crimean GDP was estimated at $4.3 billion or 0.2% of Russia based on current prices and 0.5% based on purchasing power parity.

After annexation of the peninsula, Russia doubled payments to about 560,000 pensioners and 200,000 public workers (in Crimea).[71] Those raises were cut back in April 2015.[72]

In June 2015 The Economist estimated that the average salary in Crimea was about two-thirds of the average salary in Russia.[72] According to Russian statistics by March 2015 the inflation in Crimea was 80%.[73] According to the Crimean authorities local food prices have grown 2.5 times since Russia's annexation.[74] Since then the peninsula now has to import most of its food from Russia.

Starting in the summer of 2014 Crimea's government nationalized various large Crimean companies and assets; reasons given for this were (among others) "the company helped to finance military operations against Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic" and "the resort complex illegally blocked public access to nearby park lands".[75] The government can nationalise assets considered to have "particular social, cultural, or historical value".[75] In the case of the Zalyv Shipbuilding yard, Crimean "self-defense" forces stormed the company's headquarters to demand nationalization.[75] Head of the Republic Sergey Aksyonov claimed that in at least one case "Employees established control of the enterprise on their own, we just helped them a little".[75] The Crimean assets of Ihor Kolomoyskyi have also been nationalized; according to Aksyonov this was "totally justified due to the fact that he is one of the initiators and financiers of the special anti-terrorist operation in the Eastern Ukraine where Russian citizens are being killed".[76][77]

By late October 2014 90% of the heads of Crimean government-owned corporation were fired as part of a supposed anti-corruption campaign, although no charges have been filed against anyone. Human rights activists in the region have described the seizures as lacking a legal basis and dismissed the "anti-corruption" rationale.[78] In June 2015 the Federal Security Service (FSB) started several anti-corruption criminal cases against high ranking Crimean officials.[79] According to Aksyonov the FSB had opened these criminal cases because it was "interested in destabilizing the situation in Crimea".[79]

On 6 May 2014 the National Bank of Ukraine ordered Ukrainian banks to cease operations in Crimea; the following weeks the Central Bank of Russia closed all Ukrainian banks in the peninsula because "they had failed to meet their obligations to creditors".[80] Eight months after the 21 March 2014 formal annexation of Crimea by Russia it became impossible for clients of Ukrainian banks to access their deposits and most of them did not pay interest (on loans).[81] A "Fund for the Protection of Depositors in Crimea", as part of Russia's Deposit Insurance Agency, was set up by Russia to compensate Crimeans.[81] By 6 November 2014 it paid out more than $500 million to 196,400 depositors; the fund has a limit of about $15,000 per bank account.[81] In July 2015, 25 banks were operating in Crimea while prior to the Russian annexation there were 180 banks.[82]

While many international businesses left the region, in 2015 only few Russian companies were reported to invest in Crimea, fearing sanctions.[71]

Under the international sanctions Crimea's once bustling IT-sector shrunk to a few IT companies.[74]

Russia invests significantly in Crimea, according to "The Federal Target Program for the Development of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol" they plan to invest one trillion Russian rubles (15.3 billion dollars) before 2022[83][84] The Russian government claims that those investments are necessary because Ukrainian mismanagement of the Crimean territory caused losses b2.5 trillion Russian rubles (38.3 billion dollars) to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol[85] Meanwhile, Ukraine estimates their losses due to Russian annexation of the peninsula to 100 billion dollars.[86]

• JSC GENBANK[87][88]
• JSC Bank CHBDR[89]
• Russian National Commercial Bank

Gross regional product:[90]

Commercial Medical Clinic in the Republic of Crimea

• Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles, personal and household goods – 13%
• Transport and Telecom – 10%
• Real estate, renting and business activities – 10%
• Health care and social services – 10%
• Public administration, defense, compulsory social security – 8%
• Agriculture, hunting and forestry – 10%
• Other – 39%

A Free Economic Zone has been established in the territory of the Republic of Crimea since 1 January 2015.[91]

By the end of 2017, the amount of investment in Crimea's free economic zone since early 2015, exceeded 100 billion rubles ($1.69 billion).[92]

At the beginning of 2019, 215 billion rubles ($3.3 billion) were attracted to the economy of Crimea.[93]

Tourists in Crimea in June 2015

In 2014 about two million tourists holidayed in Crimea, including 300,000 Ukrainians.[94] In 2013 3.5 million Ukrainian and 1.5 million Russian tourists visited Crimea.[94] Tourism is the mainstay of the Crimean economy.[94] In August 2014 Head of the Republic Aksyonov was confident that in 2015 Crimea would welcome "at least five million visitors - I have no doubts about that".[94] Early August 2015 the press service of his government stated that in 2015 2.02 million tourists had visited Crimea (16.5% more than in 2014).[95] They stated in January 2016 (that in 2015) more than 4 million tourists had vacationed in the peninsula.[96] Over 6.4 million tourists visited Crimea in 2018.[97]

• Aivazovsky National Art Gallery
• Alexander Grin house museum
• Feodosia Money Museum
• Lapidarium, Kerch
• Livadia Palace
• Massandra Palace
• Simferopol Art Museum
• Museum of Vera Mukhina
• Vorontsov Palace (Alupka)
• White Dacha

• Feodosia Industrial Park[98]
• Bakhchysarai Industrial Park[99]

Simferopol is an air transport hub of the Republic of Crimea.

• Simferopol International Airport

• Crimea Railway

Crimean trolleybus line length of 86 kilometres (53 mi) long of service «Krymtrolleybus».

Routes: Airport Simferopol — Simferopol — Alushta — Yalta

• European route E105 - Syvash – Dzhankoy – North Crimean Canal – Simferopol – Alushta – Yalta
• Tavrida Highway A291: Kerch — Feodosia — Belogorsk — Simferopol — Bakhchisarai — Sevastopol.
• European route E97: Dzhankoy – Feodosiya – Kerch.
• Novorossiysk — Kerch highway A290: Crimean Bridge — Kerch
• Highway H19 (Ukraine) - Yalta – Sevastopol
• Highway M18 (Ukraine) - Yalta – Simferopol – Dzhankoy
• Highway H05 (Ukraine) - Simferopol – Simferopol International Airport – Krasnoperekopsk.

• Kerch Strait ferry line (until 2020), Kerch–Yenikale Canal

The 70 m radio telescope of the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory is a part of the Soviet Deep Space Network

• Crimean Astrophysical Observatory is a part of the Soviet Deep Space Network
• Deep-Space communications center
• RT-70
• Simeiz Observatory

• FC TSK Simferopol
• FC Krymteplytsia Molodizhne
• FC Ocean Kerch
• FC Rubin Yalta

Vladimir Putin meeting with representatives of the Crimean Tatars, 16 May 2014

The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People has come under the scrutiny of the Russian Federal Security Service, which reportedly took control of the building where the Mejlis meets and searched it on 16 September 2014. Crimean Tatar media said FSB officers also searched the office of the Avdet newspaper, which is based inside the Mejlis building. Several members of the Mejlis were also reportedly subjected to FSB searches at their homes. Several Crimean Tatar opposition figures were banned from entering Crimea for five years.[107] Since Russia annexed Crimea several Crimean Tatars have disappeared or have been found dead after being reported missing.[108][109][110] Crimean authorities state these deaths and disappearances are connected to "smoking an unspecified substance" and volunteers for the Syrian civil war; human rights activists claim the disappearances are part of a repression campaign against Crimean Tatars.[105][108][109]

In February 2016 human rights defender Emir-Usein Kuku from Crimea was arrested and accused of belonging to the Islamist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir although he denies any involvement in this organization. Amnesty International has called for his immediate liberation.[111][112]

In May 2018 Server Mustafayev, the founder and coordinator of the human rights movement Crimean Solidarity was imprisoned by Russian authorities and charged with "membership of a terrorist organisation". Amnesty International and Front Line Defenders demand his immediate release.[113][114]