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Annexation of Crimea by the Russian FederationPart of the pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine and the Russo-Ukrainian WarRussian President Vladimir Putin signs the treaty of accession with Crimean leaders in Moscow, 18 March 2014.DateMilitary operation: 20 February[note 1] – 26 March 2014[6] (1 month and 6 days)Annexation: 18 March 2014LocationCrimean PeninsulaResult
Russian strategic and territorial victoryBelligerents

 Russian Federation
 Republic of Crimea

 UkraineCommanders and leaders
Vladimir Putin Dmitry Medvedev Sergey Shoygu Valery Gerasimov Aleksandr Vitko Oleg Belaventsev Alexey Dyumin Sergey Aksyonov Vladimir Konstantinov Viktor Pshonka Rustam TemirgalievTemplate:Country data Sevastopol Alexey Chaly
Oleksandr Turchynov Arseniy Yatsenyuk Ihor Tenyukh Mykhailo Kutsyn Serhiy Hayduk Arsen Avakov Valentyn Nalyvaichenko Andriy Parubiy Anatolii Mohyliov Serhiy Kunitsyn Refat Chubarov Mustafa DzhemilevUnits involved
Based in Crimea,elements of[7]
Navy

510th Naval Inf Bde (Feodosiia)
810th Naval Inf Bde (Simferopol)
Deployed to Crimea, elements of
Ground Forces

18th Mot Rifle Bde (Grozny)
291st Artillery Bde (Troitskaya)
(GRU command)

3rd Spetsnaz Bde (Tolyatti)
10th Spetsnaz Bde (Krasnodar)
16th Spetsnaz Bde (Tambov)
22nd Spetsnaz Bde (Stepnoy)
25th Spetsnaz Rgt (Stavropol)
45th Spetsnaz Rgt(Kubinka, Moscow)
Airborne

7th Air Assault Div (Novorossiysk)
31st Air Assault Bde(Ulyanovsk)
Navy

382nd Naval Inf Bn (Temryuk)
727th Naval Inf Bn (Astrakhan)
Special Operations Forces

SOF Command (Prokhladny)
Armed forces[7]
Navy

36th Coastal Def Bde (at Perevalne)
1st Naval Inf Bn (Feodosiia)
56th Gds Bn (Sevastopol)
501st Naval Inf Bn (Kerch)
406th Artillery Bde (Simferopol)
37th Comms and Control Rgt (Sevastopol)
Paramilitary
Interior troops

9th Bde (Simferopol)
15th Bn (Yevpatoriia)
18th Spec Mot Militia Bn (Haspra)
42nd Operational Rgt (Sevastopol)
47th Bde (Feodosiia)
Border guards

Special-Purpose Border Guard Bn (Yalta)Strength
Protesters

20,000 (Sevastopol)[8][9]
10,000 (Simferopol)[10]
Volunteer units[9][11]

5,000 (Sevastopol)
1,700 (Simferopol)
Russian military forces

20,000–30,000 troops[12]
Protesters

4,000–10,000 (Simferopol)[13][14]
Ukrainian military forces

5,000–22,000 troops[15][16]
40,000 reservists, partly mobilised (outside Crimea)[17]Casualties and losses
1 Crimean SDF trooper killed[18]

2 soldiers killed[19]
60–80 soldiers detained[20]
9,268 military servicemen and 7,050 civilian employees defected[21][22]

2 civilian deaths (during the protests),[23][24] 1 civilian killed[25][26] (by Crimean SDF under command of a former Russian serviceman)[27][28]
In February and March 2014, Russia invaded and annexed (or took over) the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. This event took place after the Revolution of Dignity. It is part of the wider Russo-Ukrainian conflict.



Beginning
On 22–23 February 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with security service chiefs to discuss how to save the deposed Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych. At the end of the meeting, Putin remarked that "we must start working on returning Crimea to Russia".[4] On 23 February, pro-Russian demonstrations were held in the Crimean city of Sevastopol. On 27 February, masked Russian troops without insignia[29] took over the Supreme Council (parliament) of Crimea[30][31] and captured strategic sites across Crimea, which led to the installation of the pro-Russian Sergey Aksyonov government in Crimea. This government held the Crimean status referendum, and declared Crimea's independence on 16 March 2014.[32][33] Russia formally incorporated Crimea as two Russian federal subjects—the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol on 18 March 2014.[34][35][note 2] After the event, Russia deployed more military on the peninsula and came with threats about using nuclear weapons so that Russia could keep its new power in Crimea (or solidify the new status quo on the ground).[37]

Responses
Ukraine and many other countries condemned the annexation and consider it to be a violation of international law, as well as Russian-signed agreements safeguarding the territorial integrity of Ukraine, including the 1991 Belavezha Accords that established the Commonwealth of Independent 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.[38][39] It led to the other members of the then G8 suspending Russia from the group[40] and then introducing a first 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".[41][42] The UN resolution also "underscores that the referendum [is not valid, and] cannot form the basis for any alteration of the status of [Crimea]" and called upon all states and international organizations not to recognize or to imply the recognition of Russia's annexation.[42] In 2016, the UN General Assembly reaffirmed non-recognition of the annexation and condemned "the temporary occupation of part of the territory of Ukraine—the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol".[43][44]
The Russian government opposes the "annexation" label, with Putin defending the referendum as complying with the principle of self-determination of peoples.[45][46]

Names
The conflict has many names.
In Russia, it is known as

accession of Crimea to the Russian Federation (Russian: Присоединение Крыма к Российской Федерации, romanized: Prisoyedineniye Kryma k Rossiyskoy Federatsii),
the return of Crimea (Russian: За возвращение Крыма, romanized: Za vosvrashchenie Kryma) and the reunification of Crimea.[47] In Ukraine, the names are also known as the
Temporary occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol by Russia (Ukrainian: Тимчасова окупація Автономної Республіки Крим і Севастополя Росією, romanized: Tymchasova okupatsiya Avtonomnoyi Respubliky Sevastopolya Rosiyeyu),
the illegal occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the fall of Crimea and the invasion of Crimea.[48][49][50]
Notes

References