DISINFO: Crimea’s return to Russia restored historical justice
SUMMARY
Although Crimea is just a small dot on the map, the restoration of historical justice is very important. Russian ancestors had mastered this territory since ancient times, and already in the tenth century, a significant part of it became part of the Russian state. Every inch of this land was abundantly watered with the blood of Russian and Soviet soldiers.
RESPONSE
A recurring disinformation claim attempting to legitimise Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea.
This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin media, denying Ukraine’s legitimate right to the peninsula. Crimea has a very long and complicated history with many peoples living there.
Crimea became part of the Russian Empire as a result of the Russo-Turkish war (1768-1774). In 1921, the peninsula ended up in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic within the USSR. It became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1954. Pro-Kremlin commentators and outlets say it was a gift from the then Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in commemoration of the 300th anniversary of what Soviet ideology called “the re-unification of Ukraine and Russia.” However, the reasons were probably economic rather than emotional. The Crimean peninsula has a land border with Ukraine, but it is separated from mainland Russia by sea. By attaching Crimea to Ukraine, the Soviet leaders aimed at developing the region, whose economy was more connected to Ukraine than to Russia.
As explained by Andreas Umland, since the dissolution of the USSR, Russia recognised Crimea as part of Ukraine in two important legal documents: the tripartite 1991 Russian-Ukrainian-Belarusian Belavezha Accords and the bilateral 2003 Russian-Ukrainian Border Treaty. Read the entire paper titled “Whom does Crimea Belong to? Russia’s Annexation of the Ukrainian Peninsula and the Question of Historical Justice” - see here.
Heavy fighting claimed many lives in Crimea during WWII. Back in 1944, Crimean Tatars were en masse forced to leave their homes under the pretext of the community’s alleged collaboration with Nazi Germany. The mass deportation that has taken the lives of tens of thousands of Crimean Tatars has since been recognised as an act of genocide by Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, and Canada as well as by some scholars and historians. Russia, on its part, since the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, has systematically targeted Crimean Tatar media, political institutions, language, and national leaders. In 2016, the Russian Supreme Court passed an ultra vires motion outlawing the Crimean Tatar legislature.
Read similar cases claiming that Ukraine, not Russia, is the perpetrator of human rights abuses in Crimea, that there is no proof of human rights abuses in Crimea, that the UN lies about the violation of human rights at the peninsula, and that reunification with Russia paved the way for Tatar’s language in Crimea.