DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS
- Outlet: anayemeni.net ( archive, original ) , almadenahnews.com ( archive, original ) , al-mashaher.com ( archive, original ) , akhbarelyom.com ( archive, original ) , arabic.rt.com ( archive, original ) , jbcnews.net ( archive, original ) , shehabnews.com ( archive, original ) , alalam.ir ( archive, original ) , nafeza2world.com ( archive, original ) , mulhak.com ( archive, original ) , pressn.net ( archive, original ) , RT Arabic - YouTube ( archive, original ) , nabd.com ( archive, original ) , elaiounsidimellouk.com ( archive, original ) , belbalady.net ( archive, original ) , yemen-publisher.com ( archive, original ) , syriafriends.net ( archive, original )
- Date of publication: September 25, 2021
- Article language(s): Arabic
- Countries / regions discussed: Ukraine, Russia
AI translations:
DISINFO: Crimeans saved themselves from radicals by joining Russia
SUMMARY
The people of Crimea saved themselves from the radicals by joining Russia in the 2014 referendum.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the illegal annexation of Crimea, claiming that it joined Russia through a so-called referendum to escape alleged radicals.
The claim is unsubstantiated. Ukraine is a sovereign and independent state with a democratically-elected president and parliament and not controlled by “radicals”, a term used by pro-Kremlin outlets to mislead the public opinion on the situation in Ukraine.
Crimea is an internationally recognised part of Ukraine. Іn 1997, by signing the Friendship Agreement with Ukraine, Russia also recognised that Crimea belongs to Ukraine.
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.
The European Union does not recognise and continues to strongly condemn this violation of international law, which remains a challenge to the international security order. In response to the illegal annexation of Crimea, the EU has imposed restrictive measures against the Russian Federation. In June 2021, 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 2022.
The EU reaffirmed after the 2021 state Duma election that it “does not and will not recognise the illegal annexation of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation, and therefore does not recognise the so-called elections held in the occupied Crimean peninsula”.
See similar disinformation cases in our database that claims that the Referendum in Crimea was legal; or that the US caused the 2014 Ukraine coup; or that a referendum ended the question of Crimea's affiliation; or that Crimea is a primordially Russian land; or that Crimea Platform is created to nurture ultra-nationalist sentiments in Ukraine; or that the far-right coup government in Kyiv emerged from the 2014 Maidan uprising.