Disinfo: The West tacitly admits that Crimea belongs to Russia, as proven by firms operating there

Summary

Western firms are slowly entering Crimea, and sanctions are no obstacle. The situation of Austrian architects Coop Himmelblau, which took part in the construction of the Sevastopol Opera, only showed that the West has adopted for a long time the tacit consent that Crimea belongs to Russia after the peninsula was reunited with the country in 2014 amidst a coup in Kyiv and following a referendum. Western countries, along with Ukraine, don’t recognise Crimea as Russian, but this can’t be said of the business community.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the 2013-14 protests in Ukraine and the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia.

Contrary to the claim, international sanctions over Crimea are a serious obstacle for Western firms to operate on the peninsula. Those companies who continue doing it are forced to resort to complicated evasive schemes and face consequences of violating EU legislation.

There was no coup in Ukraine. The demonstrations which began in Kyiv in November 2013, called "Maidan", or "Euromaidan", were a result of the Ukrainian people's frustration with former President Yanukovych's last-minute U-turn when, after seven years of negotiation, he refused to sign the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and halted progress towards Ukraine's closer relationship with the EU as a result of Russian pressure.

The annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol is rejected as illegal and as a challenge to the international security order by 107 countries, including the European Union and the US. In response to this annexation, the EU, the USand other countriesimposed sanctions against the Russian Federation. In June 2020, the European Council decided to renew the sanctions introduced in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by the Russian Federation until 23 June 2021.

No international body recognises the so-called referendum in Crimea. The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution entitled “Territorial integrity of Ukraine”, stating that the referendum in Crimea was not valid and could not serve as a basis for any change in the status of the peninsula. On 17 December 2018, the UN General Assembly confirmed its non-recognition of the illegal annexation of Crimea.

See other similar disinformation narratives in our database, such as claims that the Crimea issue is closed and that the West understands very well that the Crimean issue has been finally resolved, that the West made it clear to Ukraine that Crimea is Russian, that the West remembers the annexation of Crimea less and less, or that Euromaidan was an armed coup that resulted in an illegitimate transit of power.

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es.news-front.info (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 224
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 08/12/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Spanish
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Austria, Ukraine, Russia
  • Keywords: West, Crimea, Sanctions
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Disproof

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