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DISINFO: Crimea democratically joined Russia after the overthrow of Yanukovych

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

AI translations:

Tags:

Crimea illegal annexation Manipulated elections/referendum Donbas Coup Euromaidan Ukrainian statehood Viktor Yanukovych International Law United Nations

DISINFO: Crimea democratically joined Russia after the overthrow of Yanukovych

SUMMARY

Crimea's affiliation with Russia became definitive when the people of Crimea voted in favour of restoring Russian identity and returning to the arms of the homeland.. after a referendum held on March 16, 2014, after the overthrow of the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, as a result of the “Euromaidan” events in Kyiv.

.. 96.77% of the population of the Republic of Crimea and 95.6 per cent of the population of the city of Sevastopol voted for the peninsula to join Russia.

..The Russian leadership announced more than once that the Crimean people voted to join Russia in a democratic way and in accordance with international law and the Charter of the United Nations.

RESPONSE

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the illegal annexation of Crimea and the consistent framing of the Euromaidan protests as a coup d'état, while claiming that Crimea voted to rejoin Russia through a legal referendum.

The so-called Crimea referendum was organised hastily and at gunpoint following the covert invasion of Russia's “little green men” and barring impartial observers from entering the peninsula.

The referendum offered two choices: join Russia or return to Crimea’s 1992 constitution, which gave the peninsula significant autonomy. Those who favoured Crimea remaining part of Ukraine under the current constitution had no box to check.

Local authorities reported a turnout of 83%, with 96.7% voting to join Russia. The numbers seemed implausible, given that ethnic Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars accounted for almost 40% of the peninsula’s population. (Two months later, a leaked report from the Russian President’s Human Rights Council put turnout at only 30%, with about half of those voting to join Russia.)

No international body recognises the so-called referendum in Crimea, not the UN, nor the EU.

Russian President Putin recognised on 17 April 2015 that "our soldiers were deployed in Crimea to help the inhabitants express their opinion." Putin admitted (and was proud of) that the plan to annex Crimea was ordered weeks before the so-called referendum.

See previous disinformation narratives in our database alleging that Crimean people chose to be with Russia; or that Crimea’s reunification with Russia was legal; or that Ukraine was led by nationalist extremists and fascists; or that Crimea never belonged to Ukraine; or that Crimea is a Russian sovereign region.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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