DISINFO: It became possible for Crimea to return to Russia when the West recognised Kosovo
SUMMARY
Crimea is a region that was ceded to Ukraine in a totally unconstitutional and illegitimate manner by the Soviet power in 1954. Recall that Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, so it was simply an administrative division. Crimea is a region that has been Russian since the 18th century.
The only thing that founded the legitimacy of Crimea inside Ukraine is the principle of the inviolability of European borders. It is a principle that was itself intangible. But the Westerners broke this principle of the intangibility of borders by accepting the independence of Kosovo in 2008. Therefore how come the actions the Westerners allow themselves cannot be used by the Russians? That is the bottom line of the story.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the illegal cession of the oblast of Crimea in 1954 and drawing parallels between the Kosovo independence movement and Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea.
In 2014 Russian special troops, often referred to as "polite people" or "little green men", invaded Crimea and some Ukrainian territories with subversion goals. There is irrefutable evidence of direct Russian military involvement and the Russian intervention is widely recognized even by Russian president Vladimir Putin.
In February 1954, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR confirmed the need for Crimea to join Soviet Ukraine. Legally, the transfer of Crimea to Ukraine ended on 26 April 1954, on the basis of the relevant law of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Legal documents and their translation in English are readable here.
International recognition of Kosovar statehood came only after the region had been ravaged by a bloody civil war, which Western countries stopped. This was followed by a decade of international administration and status negotiations. In 2008, the EU Council stressed that, given the 1990s civil conflict and protracted international administration under Security Council Resolution 1244, Kosovo constituted a sui generis case. By contrast, there was no war in Ukraine until Russian military aggression (see ICC report here).
Negotiations on Kosovo's status lasted 10 years. The time period between Russia's military operation and annexation of Crimea was 20 days.
Unlike Kosovo, Crimea was annexed by a third state (Russia), following an illegitimate referendum that was held at gunpoint and featured no recognised election observers. Russian authorities actively advanced the narrative of Ukrainian far-right activists terrorising ethnic Russians, while Russia proactively saved Crimeans from "terrorists and extremists", the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia said.
Human rights missions visiting Ukraine in 2014 did not find evidence of discrimination against or danger to the Russian minority.
According to international law, Crimea is a part of Ukraine. Russia violated the international law as well as key principles of the European security framework by illegally annexing the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol. 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. This position is based on the UN Charter, which clearly states that the territory of a State cannot be acquired by another State resulting from the threat or use of force, as well as on the Helsinki Final Act in which the signatories declared their intention to respect the inviolability of frontiers and territorial integrity.
See similar cases: Crimea was and will always be Russian, double standards in Western attituded on status of Kosovo and Crimes, that Kosovo and Crimea's status recognition by the West shows double standards, and that Crimean referendum was the will of the Crimeans while Kosovo was an outside intervention.