Crimea, Ukrainian? Russian? Or Sovereign State? What the West does not want to tell you.

This article is about Crimea, where it is located, its population, its past and its politics. I will attempt to unravel the argument as to whether Crimea is part of Ukraine, part of Russia or its own sovereign state.

The West would insist that it was stolen from Ukraine in 2014. The Russians however would say that Crimea’s independence was stolen by Kiev in 1995. As for Crimeans, they would argue that the lands have been controlled by foreign powers for thousands of years.

Crimea is a peninsula in the eastern part of Europe it is situated along the northern coast of the Black Sea and has a population of approximately 2.5 million people. The population of Crimea is made up mostly of ethnic Russians with a significant number of Crimean Tartars and some ethnic Ukrainians as a minority.

The recorded history of the Crimean peninsula dates back to a settlement of the Scythians also known as Askuzai who rule much of Eurasia from 900 BC to 200 BC until the Pontus seized control, This group of people were controlled mainly by Persians who had a Greek influence in their language and some of their culture.

By 60 BC the Bosporan Kingdom controlled Crimea, made up of ancient Greco-Scythian people who were overseen by the Roman Empire until almost 400 AD when the mighty Hunnic Empire swept across Eastern Europe. The Huns stayed in control for 200 years, but by the 6th century the Huns’ power had diminished and the Southern part of Crimea had become controlled by the Byzantine Empire with the Kievan Rus controlling that area around the Kerch Strait.

By the mid-12th century, the Mongols had captured most of Crimea. The Golden Horde who took over from the Mongols held Crimea from the late 12th century, holding it for 200 years until it collapsed in the late 14th century.

The Ottoman Empire then moved in to claim the southern part of the territory of Crimea while the northern area was controlled by the Crimean Khanates who are the descendants of the Tartars who still live in Crimea today. This co-existence between the people of the Ottoman Empire and the Tartars continues for 300 years until the Ottoman Empire collapsed and the rising Russian Empire took control.

Under Cathrine the Great a Geman born Emperess of Russia who was one of Russia’s greatest leaders, Crimea remained Russian until the Russian revolution in 1917.

As it is clear to see Crimea changed hands many times prior to the 20th century. After the 1917 Russian Revolution Crimea changed hands numerous times as it was one of the strongholds of the anti-Bolshevik white army. The white army was finally driven out by the Red Army in November 1920. In 1921 Crimea became part of the USSR and was given the status of The Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, in 1922 it became the Crimean Tatar enclave.

Crimea remained that way until the Second World War when the peninsula was invaded by Nazi Germany and Romanian troops in the summer of 1941. By July 1942 the port city of Sevastopol was finally captured by the German and Romanian forces after a year-long siege. In May 1944 the Soviet forces retook Sevastopol from the Germans. It is estimated that the Nazis murdered around 40,000 Crimean Jews, political opponents and Soviet partisans during their occupation.

In 1946 the Crimean peninsula was downgraded from an autonomous zone to an on blast. Many Crimean Tatars were deported for allegedly collaborating with the Nazi forces these people were expelled and sent to Uzbekistan and Siberia. This cruel treatment was ordered by The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party Joseph Stalin who also purged many Russians during his leadership.

In 1954 the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party Nikita Khrushchev issued a decree transferring the Crimean region to Ukraine. It is noted that there was no referendum and no vote for the people of Crimea or Ukraine. Khrushchev was born on the Russian Ukrainian border and his wife was Ukrainian. He had also been the assistant director for political affairs in the Donbass region during the 1920s. It stands to reason that the move to incorporate Crimea into Ukraine may have been driven by his desire to make Ukraine a great region within the USSR.

The incorporation of Crimea into Ukraine lasted from 1954 to 1991 (47 years). However the West would have you believe that the incorporation was from 1954 to 2014 (60 years), this is a misrepresentation of history and is one of the reasons why I am writing this article.

Shortly before the disillusion of the USSR, Crimea was granted the status of an Autonomous Republic by the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian Government. This resulted from a state-sanctioned referendum held on the 20th of January 1991. Then Crimea became The Autonomous Republic and by February 1992 Crimea had created its own parliament the Crimean parliament. In May it proclaimed self-governance with its own constitution (The Crimean Constitution of 1992). In October 1993 the Crimean parliament established the post of president of Crimea. This move incensed the Ukraine leadership now in Keiv. Ukraine by this time had also become an independent country and already had outside influences from the West pressing it to act in Crimea. Then in 1995 after the Budapest agreement was signed that prevented Russia from getting involved in territory disputes outside its own. The Ukrainian government pounced on the Crimean peninsula abolishing the Crimean constitution of 1992. it also removed the then-president of Crimea. By 1998 the constitution of the antonymous Republic of Crimea was established changing the territory’s name to an autonomous Republic of Crimea acting within the jurisdiction of Ukraine.

Crimea then remained part of Ukraine even though in 1991 the people of Crimea had voted in a free referendum to be an independent state. Then in 1995, their constitution was abolished their president removed all with no vote or referendum. This situation remained until the 2014 US back coup in Kiev sparked the Crimean people to rise up and again have a referendum in which they voted to join the Russian Federation. Since that time Crimea has been a quiet place with no uprising or discontent, except for the western sanctions on banks, telecommunications and other companies.

In conclusion, If you believe that the Russian Federation annexed Crimea in 2014, then the historical facts dictate that the Ukraine government annexed Crimea in 1995. As to the question of who should control Crimea? History shows that Crimea has had many masters, some for very short periods and some that controlled it for almost 700 years (The Scythians). One thing is certain, in 1991 a referendum was held to be independent and the Crimean people voted “YES”, and in 2014 a referendum was held on the question of Crimea being incorporated into the Russian Federation and the Crimean people voted “YES”.

But in 1954 there was no referendum just silence and in 1995, again no referendum just silence.

Which is more just and democratic for the people of Crimea?

A free referendum or an order to obey by those in power?