DISINFO: Crimea has realised the right to self-determination through a free, peaceful vote
SUMMARY
The population of Crimea has realized the right to self-determination enshrined in the UN Charter through a free, peaceful vote that meets all international standards. Any discussions around the reunification of the peninsula with the Russian Federation are meaningless: the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol are fully integrated into the political, legal and economic space of the Russian Federation.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative on the illegal annexation of Crimea.
The so-called referendum was organised under Russian illegal occupation without complying with neither the Ukrainian electoral code nor the Russian electoral code. The annexation has been condemned by the UN GA (see the resolution A/RES/68/262 on the territorial integrity of Ukraine).
No international body recognises the so-called referendum, announced on the 27th of February 2014, and held on 16th of March 2014. The oft-cited figure of 97% 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.
A year after the illegal annexation, Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted that the plan to annex Crimea was ordered weeks before the so-called referendum.
The EU has taken a policy of non-recognition of the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol that includes a set of restrictive measures for actions against Ukraine's territorial integrity.
See similar cases claiming that Crimea reunited with Russia after a referendum on the peninsula, that The West understands very well that Crimean issue has been finally resolved, that Crimea never belonged to Ukraine, that Crimean people have expressed their desire to rejoin Russia in a democratic process, and that Crimea was and is Russian.