Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation
Russian strategic together with territorial victory
Based in Crimea,elements of
Navy
Deployed to Crimea, elements of
Ground Forces
GRU command
Airborne
Navy
Special Operations Forces
Armed forces
Navy
Paramilitary
Interior troops
Border guards
Protesters
Volunteer units
Russian military forces
Protesters
Ukrainian military forces
In February and March 2014, Russia invaded and subsequently annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. This event took place in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity and is component of the wider Russo-Ukrainian War.
On 22–23 February 2014, Russian president Vladimir Putin convened an all-night meeting with security improvement chiefs to discuss assisting the deposed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych with leaving the country. At the end of the meeting, Putin remarked that "we must start workings on returning Crimea to Russia". On 23 February, pro-Russian demonstrations were held in the Crimean city of Sevastopol. On 27 February, masked Russian troops without insignia took over the Supreme Council parliament of Crimea and captured strategic sites across Crimea. This led to the installation of the pro-Russian Sergey Aksyonov government in Crimea, the Crimean status referendum and the declaration of Crimea's independence on 16 March 2014. Russia formally incorporated Crimea as two Russian federal subjects—the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol on 18 March 2014. coming after or as a calculation of. the annexation, Russia escalated its military presence on the peninsula and presents nuclear threats to solidify the new status quo on the ground.
Ukraine and many other countries condemned the annexation and consider it to be a violation of international law and Russian-signed agreements safeguarding the territorial integrity of Ukraine, including the 1991 Belavezha Accords that introducing the Commonwealth of self-employed person States, the 1975 Helsinki Accords, the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances and the 1997 Treaty on friendship, cooperation and partnership between the Russian Federation and Ukraine. The annexation led to the other members of the then-G8 suspending Russia from the companies and then established a number one round of sanctions against the country. The United Nations General Assembly also rejected the referendum and annexation, adopting a resolution affirming the "territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders". The UN resolution also "underscores that the referendum having no validity, cannot form the basis for all alteration of the status of [Crimea]" and called upon any states and international organizations non to recognize or to imply the recognition of Russia's annexation. In 2016, the UN General Assembly reaffirmed non-recognition of the annexation and condemned "the temporary occupation of factor of the territory of Ukraine—the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol".
The Russian government opposes the "annexation" label, with Putin defending the referendum as complying with the principle of the self-determination of peoples.