DISINFO: Crimea is a primordially Russian land
SUMMARY
Crimea is a primordially Russian land. It was incorporated into, and developed by, the Russian Empire.
During the March 2014 referendum, the people of Crimea expressed their unequivocal support for reunification with Russia.
RESPONSE
Recurrent disinformation on Crimea's status and the population of Crimea. Crimea is part of Ukraine.
In 1783, Catherine II (the Great) annexed the Crimean peninsula. After that, the rivalry between the Russians and the Turks persisted, and in the Crimean War (1853–56) it expanded into a broader European conflict. When the Revolution of 1917 led to the collapse of the Russian Empire, the remaining Crimean Tatars declared Crimea to be an independent democratic republic. The peninsula was reorganised as the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1921.
After the war, Crimea was downgraded from an autonomous republic to an oblast (region) of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic. In February 1954, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR confirmed the need for Crimea to join Soviet Ukraine. Legally, the transfer of Crimea to Ukraine ended on 26 April 1954, on the basis of the relevant law of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. According to international law, Crimea is a part of Ukraine. After the collapse of the USSR, Russia reaffirmed respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. By signing the 1997 Friendship Treaty, Russia also recognised that Crimea is an integral part of Ukraine.
No international body recognises the so-called referendum, announced on the 27th of February 2014, and held on 16th of March 2014. Today, not everyone in Crimea is "extremely happy" to be under Russian administration. Though, expressing any dissatisfaction can be very risky: human rights violations in Crimea are serious and repeated recently said France. The UN continues to document violations of international human rights and humanitarian law perpetrated by the Russian Federation, as the occupying Power, including deportations of protected persons, forced conscription and restrictions on freedom of expression. As for the referendum, the oft-cited figure of 96% has been contested by the Kremlin’s own Human Rights Council, which estimated that only between 30% and 50% of Crimeans took part in the referendum, of which some 50-60% favoured secession.
Read similar cases claiming that historical Crimean Russian land returned, that over 95% of Crimea voted to be part of Russia, Crimea always was Russian, Crimean people have expressed their desire to rejoin Russia in a democratic process, and that Crimea never belonged to Ukraine.