Why Crimea is coveted by both Russia and Ukraine

Kyiv: Russia’s seizure of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine exactly 11 years ago March 18, 2014, was quick and bloodless, but it sent Moscow’s relations with the West into a downward spiral unseen since the Cold War.

It also paved the way for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, during which Moscow annexed more land from the war-torn country.

A look at the diamond-shaped peninsula in the Black Sea, coveted by both Russia and Ukraine for its naval bases and beaches:

Why is Crimea important

Crimea’s unique location makes it a strategically important asset, and Russia has spent centuries fighting for it.

Crimea was home to Turkic-speaking Tatars when the Russian Empire first annexed it in the 18th century. It briefly regained independence as a Tatar republic two centuries later before being swallowed by the Soviet Union.

In 1944, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin deported nearly 200,000 Tatars, or about a third of Crimea’s population, to Central Asia, 3,200 kilometres to the east.

Stalin had accused them of collaborating with Nazi Germany — a claim widely dismissed by historians. An estimated half of them died in the next 18 months of hunger and harsh conditions.

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred the peninsula from Russia to Ukraine in 1954, when both were part of the USSR, to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the unification of Moscow and Kyiv. In 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed, the peninsula became part of the newly independent Ukraine.

Russia kept a foot in the door, however: Its Black Sea Fleet had a base in the city of Sevastopol, and Crimea — as part of Ukraine — continued to host it.

Sevastopol also was a preferred holiday destination for Nicholas II, the last Russian czar. The southern town of Yalta was a prime holiday destination in Soviet times, with many sanatoriums there. It drew worldwide renown when Stalin, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met there in 1945 to discuss the fate of Germany and Europe after World War II.

For Kyiv, Crimea had been a strategic asset, too. By the time Russia annexed it in 2014, it had been part of Ukraine for 60 years and had become part of the country’s identity.

Leonid Kravchuk, the first president of independent Ukraine, said Kyiv had invested some USD 100 billion into the peninsula between 1991 and 2014.

From a security perspective, Ukraine needs Crimea in order to have control over activities in the Black Sea.

How did Russia seize Crimea?

In 2014, a massive popular uprising in Ukraine forced pro-Moscow President Victor Yanukovich from office.

Putin responded by sending troops to overrun Crimea — they initially appeared on the peninsula in uniforms without insignia — and calling a plebiscite on joining Russia, which Ukraine and the West dismissed as illegal.

Russia’s annexation of Crimea was recognised internationally only by countries such as North Korea and Sudan. In Russia, it touched off a wave of patriotism, and “Krym nash!” — or “Crimea is ours!” — became a rallying cry.

This move sent Putin’s popularity soaring. His approval rating, which had declined to 65 per cent in January 2014, shot to 86 per cent in June, according to the Levada Center, an independent Russian pollster.

What happened after the annexation?

Putin has called Crimea “a sacred place,” and has prosecuted those who publicly argue it is part of Ukraine. Repressions against the Crimean Tatars continued under Putin, despite Moscow’s denials of discrimination. They strongly opposed the annexation, and an estimated 30,000 of them fled the peninsula between 2014 and 2021.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to retake it and said that Russia “won’t be able to steal” the peninsula.

Russia’s relations with the West plummeted to new lows. The United States, the European Union and other countries imposed sanctions on Moscow and its officials.

Weeks after the annexation, fighting broke out in eastern Ukraine between pro-Kremlin militias and Kyiv’s forces. Moscow threw its weight behind the insurgents, even though the Kremlin denied supporting them with troops and weapons.

There was abundant evidence to the contrary, including a Dutch court’s finding that a Russia-supplied air defence system shot down a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet over eastern Ukraine in July 2014, killing all 298 people aboard.

Russian hard-liners later criticised Putin for failing to capture all of Ukraine that year, arguing it was easily possible at a time when the government in Kyiv was in disarray and its military in shambles.

The fighting in eastern Ukraine continued, on and off, until February 2022, when Putin recognised the two war-torn Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states and several days later launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

What role does Crimea play in Russia’s war in Ukraine?

In its assault on Ukraine, Moscow deployed troops and weapons to Crimea, allowing Russian forces to quickly seize large parts of southern Ukraine in the first weeks of the war.

A top Russian military official later said that securing a land corridor to Crimea by holding the occupied parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions was among the key goals of what the Kremlin insisted on calling its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Before the invasion, Zelenskyy focused on diplomatic efforts to get Crimea back, but after Russian troops rolled across the border, Kyiv started publicly contemplating retaking the peninsula by force.

The peninsula soon became a battleground, with Ukraine launching drone attacks and bombing it to try to dislodge Moscow’s hold on the territory.

The attacks targeted the Russian Black Sea Fleet there, as well as ammunition depots, airfields and Putin’s prized asset — the Kerch Bridge linking Crimea to Russia, which was struck in October 2022 and again in July 2023.

AP