Whom Does Crimea Belong to? Russia’s Annexation of the Ukrainian Peninsula and the Question of Historical Justice

Foreign Policy Association, 2018

12 Pages Posted: 30 Jun 2020

See all articles by Andreas Umland

Andreas Umland

Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies; National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA)

Date Written: September 11, 2018

Abstract

Not only Moscow’s unapologetic military occupation of the peninsula, but also the following official course of Crimea’s separation from Ukraine and annexation to Russia grossly violated a number of fundamental international legal norms as well as certain provisions of the Constitutions of Ukraine, Crimea and even the Russian Federation itself. These facts are already well established and relatively thoroughly covered in the relevant Western and Ukrainian scholarly legal literature. What has been lesser discussed so far are various political circumstances of the so-called “referendum” organized by the Kremlin on March 16, 2014 that also cast considerable doubt on the claim – still surprisingly popular among many Western politicians, journalists and diplomats – that the vast majority of the Crimean population had been craving for “reunification” with the Russian Federation, as well as on the assertion that there were supposedly weighty historical reasons for Moscow’s land-grab.

Keywords: Crimea, Ukraine, Russia

JEL Classification: N44, N94

Suggested Citation

Umland, Andreas, Whom Does Crimea Belong to? Russia’s Annexation of the Ukrainian Peninsula and the Question of Historical Justice (September 11, 2018). Foreign Policy Association, 2018, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3500086

Andreas Umland (Contact Author)

Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies ( email )

Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies
102 51 Stockholm
Sweden
+4917682092727 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.ui.se/english/about/staff/andreas-umland/

National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA) ( email )

vul. Voloska 8/5
Department of Political Science
Kyiv, 04070
Ukraine

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.ukma.edu.ua/index.php/osvita/fakulteti/fsnst/kafedra-politologiji/vykladachi

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