Five years ago, on March 21, 2014, Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea was formalized in Moscow with pomp, flair and overcompensation for “normalcy” during a televised and showy signing ceremony that officially absorbed Crimea into the Russian Federation.
Pavel Felgenhauer, in his analysis, expected Russia was shifting its focus from Crimea to Ukraine’s mainland. The timeline of events that transpired from the initial Russian invasion to the signing ceremony took just 22 days, he noted.
On February 27, 2014, up to 120 heavily armed gunmen, reportedly a Russian Special Forces unit, arrived from Sevastopol and occupied the regional legislature and government buildings in Symferopol. Under the control of these armed military units, who had hoisted Russian flags over the buildings, Crimean legislators installed Sergey Aksyonov as prime minister of Crimea. Mr. Aksyonov, who led the unpopular local Russian Unity party (which received 4 percent in 2010 elections), also has alleged ties to organized crime in Crimea.
On March 6, the Crimean authorities announced a referendum for March 16, 2014, to join Russia immediately. “Crimean Tatar leaders had called for a boycott of the vote, but the officially announced results were overwhelmingly Soviet-style: almost 97 percent voted to join Russia, with a turnout of over 83 percent,” Mr. Felgenhauer wrote.
The constitutional amendments were approved by the Russian Duma within two days, and on March 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mr. Aksyonov, Vladimir Konstantinov, Crimean Parliament chairman, and Alexei Chaly, a Russian businessman, declared a “people’s mayor of Sevastopol” after the collapse of the Yanukovych regime, and they signed a treaty of accession of Crimea into Russia.
By March 24, the Ukrainian flag was lowered from the last remaining Ukrainian outpost in Crimea. The decision was made to evacuate all the remaining Ukrainian servicemen with their families out of Crimea to the Ukrainian mainland. Some of the servicemen decided to remain and shift loyalty to Russia. The occupying forces were keen to stir up animosity and confusion within the Ukrainian military, as Russia set its sites on mainland Ukraine.
In the wake of the annexation of Crimea by Russia, Mr. Putin’s popularity soared and popular support for the annexation approved the move.
Ukrainian authorities in Kyiv were preparing for presidential elections on May 25, 2014, in which Russia attempted to disrupt the election of President Petro Poroshenko, who is running for re-election on March 31 of this year. Russian interference is expected this year as well.
During the past five years since the annexation of Crimea, economic sanctions enacted against Russia by the United States, Canada and the EU have remained in place. Numerous statements and resolutions by the United Nations and other international organizations, including the G-7, have upheld the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and expressed non-recognition of Crimea as part of Russia. Sanctions have also applied to Crimean authority figures as well as Western businesses that conduct business in Crimea, including commercial shipping.
Source: “With Crimea secure, Russia’s focus shifts to Ukrainian mainland,” by Pavel Felgenauer (Eurasia Daily Monitor), The Ukrainian Weekly, March 30, 2014.