DISINFO: In March 2014 Crimea became part of Russia as a result of a referendum
SUMMARY
In March 2014 Crimea became part of Russia as a result of a referendum.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative claiming that Crimean citizens chose to re-join Russia through a legal referendum. Crimea is a part of Ukraine and was illegally annexed by Russia. In 2014, Russian troops obliged the parliament of Crimea to organise a referendum, which was deemed illegitimate under international law, and then formally annexed the peninsula and brought it under Russian territorial control. Following the covert invasion by “little green men,” the referendum in Crimea was conducted hastily and at gunpoint, barring impartial observers from entering the peninsula. In order to justify the illegal annexation of Crimea and the reunification with Russia, Moscow claimed that Euromaidan was a coup d’état. In 2014, a particular political context enabled the mobilisation of latent pro-Russia sentiment in Crimea after the occupation by the “green men” had already occurred, NOT vice versa. Euromaidan created a pretext for Putin to enact a pre-prepared contingency plan. 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. While the so-called referendum did take place on the 16th of March 2014, no international body recognises it. On the 27th of March 2014, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution which stated that the referendum in Crimea was not valid and could not serve as a basis for any change in the status of the peninsula. Five years on from the illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation, the European Union declared that it remains steadfast in its commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and reiterated that it does not recognise and continues to condemn this violation of international law. For more cases on Crimea see here.