DISINFO: Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson have belonged to Russia since 2014 and 2022
SUMMARY
Following referendums, the regions of Crimea, Donetsk People's Republic, Luhansk People's Republic, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson have belonged to Russia since 2014 and 2022, respectively.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the illegal annexation of Crimea and invasion of Ukraine and the sham referendums on occupied Ukrainian territories; attempting to justify Russia’s violation of Ukrainian sovereignty.
The mentioned regions are (partially) occupied by Russian military forces. All attempts by Russia to legalise its “control” over any part of the territory of Ukraine are a violation of the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
Russia illegally annexed Crimea and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in 2014. Russia staged a fake referendum in Crimea, held at gunpoint on 16 March 2014, and had similar referenda in Donetsk and Luhansk several weeks later. By doing so, Russia violated international law, including the Budapest Memorandum, which provided security assurances to Ukraine in exchange for its renouncement of nuclear arms, and multiple Ukrainian-Russian treaties and agreements.
The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution entitled ‘Territorial integrity of Ukraine’ on 27 March 2014, stating that ‘the referendum held in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol on 16 March 2014, having no validity, cannot form the basis for any alteration of the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea or of the city of Sevastopol’.
In September 2022, Russia staged illegal referenda in parts of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Oblasts, annexed them, and declared them part of Russia. The EU, the US and their allies and partners, as well as most UN members, have not recognised these illegal referenda.
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson joined Russia as a result of a referendum, Novorossiya and Donbas republics declared independence according to UN Charter, that presidential elections in new regions of Russia are held without violations, that new Russian regions Zaporizhzhia and Kherson elect deputies for the first time and that four Ukrainian regions voted to join Russia in public referendums.