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It has been suggested that Treaty on the Adoption of the Republic of Crimea to Russia be merged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since March 2014.

Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation

Russian, Crimean, and Sevastopolian politicians sign a treaty whereby Crimea and Sevastopol accede to the Russian Federation.
Location	Moscow, Russia
Participants	Russia Republic of Crimea
Outcome	the Autonomous Republic of Crimea becomes the Republic of Crimea as a federal subject of Russia while Sevastopol becomes a Russian federal city
Ratified	March 21, 2014; 10 years ago (2014-03-21)
Finalization	January 1, 2015; 10 years ago (2015-01-01)
Status	disputed by Ukraine; not recognized by the United Nations nor any foreign entity

The accession of Crimea to the Russian Federation is a disputed diplomatic process that began after the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol unilaterally declared their independence from Ukraine.

The regions joined together as a single nation afterwards and requested to be acceded to Russia as such, in accordance with a referendum that reflected such desire. Russia granted the request almost immediately by signing an adoption treaty together with the newly formed nation. The accession, however, was ratified separately: one for the Autonomous Republic as a federal subject and another for Sevastopol as a federal city. Ukraine, however, disputes the treaty as it does not consider the independence of the Autonomous Republic and Sevastopol as legitimate, nor the accession itself. So does the majority of the international community who has condemned Russia's actions.

Timeline

This section is in list format but may read better as prose. You can help by converting this section, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (March 2014)

• March 11:
  • Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Crimea
• March 15:
  • Protests in Moscow ahead of the vote have both supporters and opposition to the intervention in Ukraine and possible incoporation of Crimea.
• March 16:
  • The referendum on the status of Crimea concludes, with 95% of votes cast for unification with Russia of the more than half that had been counted.

• March 17:
  • Dispute over the results of the referendum on the status of Crimea are questioned from outside organisations.
  • Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin in Dmitry Medvedev's Cabinet states to the press, "The hopes of the Crimean people, who have voted in Sunday's referendum for accession to Russia, should not be forfeited."
  • Crimea’s Parliament declares independence and asks the Russian Federation to admit the Republic of Crimea into Russia.
  • Crimea's Parliament declares the Russian ruble an official currency, alongside hryvnia.
  • President of Russia Vladimir Putin issues a decree formally recognizing Crimea as an independent state.
  • President of Russia approves draft Treaty between Russian Federation and Republic of Crimea on admission of the Republic of Crimea into the Russian Federation and establishment of the new subjects of the Russian Federation.
  • The Republic of Crimea is recognized by Russia.
• March 18:
  • According to Article 6 of the Federal Constitutional Law (Russia) "On the Procedure of Admission to the Russian Federation and the Formation Within It New Subject of the Russian Federation" of 2001, President Vladimir Putin notifies the Government, the State Duma and the Federation Council of proposals by the Crimean State Council and the Sevastopol Legislative Assembly regarding their admission to the RF and the formation of new constituent territories.
  • President of Russia Vladimir Putin addresses the Russian Federal Assembly on Crimea's accession to Russia, and signs the treaty on the admission of the Republic of Crimea (including Sevastopol) into Russia (as the Republic of Crimea and federal city Sevastopol respectively in accordance with the provisions of the 2001 Admission Law).
  • Transnistria sends a request to join the Russian Federation following the Crimean example and in compliance with the Admission Law provisions.

• March 19:
  • Putin submitted to the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, a treaty of Crimea’s reunification with Russia and a constitutional amendment on setting up two new constituent territories of the Russian Federation.
  • Russia’s Constitutional Court unanimously ruled that the Treaty on the Adoption of the Republic of Crimea to Russia comports with the Russian Constitution. The court sat in an emergency session following a formal request by President Vladimir Putin to assess the constitutionality of the treaty.

• March 20:
  • The State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament ratified the interstate treaty on the admission of Crimea into Russia by a 443-1 vote with no abstentions, backdating the admission to March 18, and approves draft federal constitutional law on admission of the Republic of Crimea and establishment of the new federal subjects of the Russian Federation (444-1 vote in first reading, 445-1 vote in final reading, no abstentions in both). A Just Russia's Ilya Ponomarev was the only State Duma member to vote against it.

• March 21:
  • The Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament unanimously ratified the interstate treaty on the admission of Crimea into Russia. Of its 170 members, 155 members who were present at the session hall voted for ratification of the document.
  • Ukraine signs E.U. trade pact while Russia finalizes Crimea dealings.
  • With both houses of the Federal Assembly having done their ratification, the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, signed the federal law on ratification of the interstate treaty on the admission of Crimea into Russia and the federal constitutional law "On admission of the Republic of Crimea into the Russian Federation and establishment of the new subjects in the Russian Federation — Republic of Crimea and city of federal importance Sevastopol" in accordance with the provisions of the 2001 Admission Law, therefore amending several provisions of the Constitution of Russia in the process.

• March 30:
  • Crimea is planned to switch to Moscow Time.

Transition

The number of tourists visiting Crimea in the 2014 season is expected to be lower than in the previous years due to worries about the political situation. The Crimean government members however hope that Russian tourists will flow in calling it the Russian season. Russian government is planning to promote Crimea as a resort and provide subsidized holidays to the peninsula for children and state workers.

The Sofia news agency Novinite claims that according to the German newspaper Die Welt, accession of Crimea is economically disadvantageous for the Russian Federation. Russia will have to spend billions of euros a year to pay salaries and pensions. Moreover, Russia will have to undertake costly projects to connect Crimea to the Russian water supply and power system because Crimea has no land connection to Russia and at present gets water, gas and electricity from mainland Ukraine. This will require building a bridge and a pipeline across the Kerch Strait. Also, Novinite claims that a Ukrainian expert told Die Welt that Crimea "will not be able to attract tourists".

The Russian business newspaper Kommersant expresses an opinion that Russia will not acquire anything economically from accessing Crimea, which is not very developed industrially, having just a few big factories, and whose yearly gross product is only $4 billion. The newspaper also says that everything from Russia will have to be delivered by sea, higher costs of transportation will result in higher prices for everything, and in order to avoid a decline in living standards Russia will have to subsidize Crimean people for a few months.

In total, Kommersant estimates the costs of integrating Crimea into Russia in $30 billion over the next decade, i.e. $3 billion per year.

Russian/Chechen businessman ru announced he is ready to invest 12 bln rubles into the construction of a modern sea resort in Crimea, which is expected to create about 1,300 jobs. Ramzan Kadyrov, the Head of Chechnya, said that other Chechen businessmen are planning to invest into Crimea as well.

The Russian Federal Service for Communications (Roskomnadzor) warned about a transition period as Russian operators have to change the numbering capacity and subscribers. Country code will be replaced from the Ukrainian +380 to Russian +7. Codes in Crimea start with 65, but in the area of "7" the 6 is given to Kazakhstan which shares former Soviet Union +7 with Russia, so city codes have to change. At the time of the unification with Russia, telephone operators and Internet service providers in Crimea and Sevastopol are connected to the outside world through the territory of Ukraine.

External sanctions

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Sanctions were imposed to prevent Russian and Crimean officials and politicians to travel to Canada, the United States, and the European Union.

Country of origin	Name	Sanctioned by Cadada	Sanctioned by the E.U.	Sanctioned by the U.S.
Russia	Sergey Glazyev
Russia	Andrei Klishas
Russia	Valentina Matviyenko
Russia	Yelena Mizulina
Russia	Dmitry Rogozin
Russia	Leonid Slutsky
Russia	Vladislav Surkov
Ukraine	Sergey Aksyonov
Ukraine	Volodymyr Konstantynov
Ukraine	Viktor Medvedchuk
	Rustam Temirgaliev
	Denis Berezovsky
	Aleksei Chaliy
	Pyotr Zima
	Yuriy Zherebtsov
	Sergey Tsekov
	Victor Ozerov
	Vladimir Dzhabarov
	Nikolai Ryzhkov
	Evgeny Bushmin
	Aleksandr Totoonov
	Oleg Panteleev
	Sergey Mironov
	Sergey Zheleznyak
	Aleksandr Vitko
	Anatoliy Sidorov
	Aleksandr Galkin
Ukraine	Viktor Yanukovych

Japan announced milder sanctions than the US and EU. These include suspension of talks relating to military, space, investment, and visa requirements.

In response to the sanctions introduced by the U.S. and EU, the Russian Duma unanimously passed a resolution asking for all members of the Duma to be included on the sanctions list. Head of the opposition A Just Russia party Sergei Mironov said he was proud of being included on the sanctions list, "It is with pride that I have found myself on the black list, this means they have noticed my stance on Crimea."

Three days after the lists were published, the Russian Foreign Ministry published a reciprocal sanctions list of US citizens, which consisted of 10 names, including House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, Senator John McCain, and two advisers to President Obama. The ministry said in the statement, "Treating our country in such way, as Washington could have already ascertained, is inappropriate and counterproductive," and reiterated that sanctions against Russia would have a boomerang effect.

According to the Financial Times on Friday, March 21, "As recently as the start of the week, some of Moscow's financial elite were blasé about the prospect of sanctions. But Russia's businessmen were no longer smiling by after expanded US sanctions rippled through financial markets hitting the business interests of some of the country's richest people." The Americans centered on the heart of Moscow's leadership, though the EU initial list shied from targeting Putin's inner circle. As ratings agencies Fitch and Standard & Poor's downgraded Russia's credit outlook, Novatek, Russia's second-largest gas producer, saw $2.5bn in market value wiped out when its shares sank by nearly 10%, rendering Putin's close friend Gennady Timchenko, who has a 23% stake in the company, $575m poorer. "I do hope that there is some serious diplomatic activity going on behind the scenes," said one Russian banker quoted by the newspaper, though others were more sanguine on the question of whether the sanctions would have any enduring effect—"What has been announced so far is really nothing. It's purely cosmetic," said a French banker based in Moscow—and Russians, top and bottom, seemed defiant. The official Russian response was mixed.

Gallery

• Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, the Government, governors and others in a speech regarding Crimea's accession to Russia.
• Russian, Crimean, and Sevastopolian politicians stand to applaud after Putin finishes his speech.
• Putin shakes hands with Sergey Aksyonov, de facto Prime Minister of Crimea while Chairman of the Crimean Parliament, Vladimir Konstantinov (left), and Chief of the City Council of Sevastopol, Aleksei Chalyi (right), watch.
• Rally on Red Square in support the accession of Crimea to Russia.
• Putin on Red Square addresses the crowd in a rally in support of the accession of Crimea to Russia.
• Final ceremony signing the laws on admitting Crimea and Sevastopol to the Russian Federation

Videos

• Address by President of the Russian Federation.
• Rally on Red Square in support the Accession of Crimea to Russia.
• Ceremony signing the laws on admitting Crimea and Sevastopol to the Russian Federation

See also

• Irredentism
• Simferopol Incident controversy

References

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External links

• A treaty of accession of the Republic of Crimea and Sebastopol to the Russian Federation. Unofficial English translation with commentary

• Articles to be merged from March 2014
• 2014 Crimean crisis
• 2014 in Russia
• 2014 in Ukraine
• Politics of Crimea
• Secession in Ukraine