Crimea – The Peninsula at the Heart of the Russo-Ukrainian War 

Since the 13th Century, Crimea had been largely controlled by the Tatars, a Turkic speaking people. [3] Even as the Khanate of Crimea submitted to the Ottoman Empire in 1475, the Tartars remained the majority population in Crimea. [4] By the late 17th century, however, Russia began expanding its southern frontier, bringing it into a series of conflicts with the Ottoman Empire. For the next two centuries, the two empires fought for control over the Black Sea region, with one conflict concluding in the 1774 Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, which ceded some territory to the Russians and established an independent Crimean Tatar state. This independent state did not last, however, as Catherine the Great annexed the peninsula in 1783, claiming Crimea as Russian territory. [5] 

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Tartars and Ethnic tensions

The tensions between the Russians and the Turks have persisted even after annexation. Following annexation, there were a series of forced immigrations and expulsions of Tatars. First to be expelled were the wealthier Tatars, responsible for exporting wheat, meat, fish and wine. Further expulsions happened as a result of Russia’s colonial policies as well as a fear of a Crimean uprising during Napoleon's invasion. [6] The Crimean War of 1853-1856 also led to the mass emigration of Tatars, many of whom left for fear of bombing campaigns. Of the 300,000 Tatar population of the peninsula, around 200,000 left. In total, between 1783 to the start of the 20th century, at least 800,000 Tatars left Crimea, many of whom settled in Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey.

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After the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, remaining Crimean Tatars declared Crimea as an independent democratic republic. However, their defeat as part of the White forces in the Russian Civil War (1918-20) dashed any hopes for an independent Crimean state. Instead, the peninsula was reorganized as the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1921. 

 

Perhaps as a result of this attempted separatism, Soviet collectivization was especially harsh in Crimea. During the Stalin era, tens of thousands of Crimean Tatars perished as part of a wider suppression of ethnic minorities in the Soviet Union. In May 1944 the remaining Crimean Tatars—around 200,000 people—were forcibly deported to Siberia and Central Asia for allegedly having collaborated with the Nazis during World War II. [7] Even after the death of Stalin, when many other groups of deportees were allowed to return to their native regions, the Crimean Tatars were a notable exception, though they were legally rehabilitated in 1967. [8] For many, it wasn’t until the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the 1990s that they returned, with the population of 38,000 in 1989 growing to some 300,000 at the turn of the 21st century. [9]

 

Crimea and Ukraine

After the Russian Civil War, Crimea went from an autonomous republic to an oblast (region) of the Soviet Union. In 1954, to mark the 300th anniversary of the Pereyaslav Agreement, which submitted Ukraine to Russian rule, it was transferred to Ukraine. [10] At the time, Ukraine was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union. In 1991, Crimea was once again made an autonomous republic within the USSR. With the Union’s formal dissolution that year, however, Crimea was passed to the newly independent Ukraine. Relations between Ukraine and Crimea have been complicated. Since the mass exodus of the Tatars, ethnic Russians had been a majority in Crimea, and even held a short-lived independence movement in 1994. 

 

Tensions have also been high between the Tatar and Russian populations. For the returning Tatar population, squatting was a significant method to rebuild communities destroyed by deportations. This has sometimes led to violence from Ethnic Russians, such as the 1992 Krasny Ray events, where a Crimean Tatar squat was attacked by Russian security forces. Crimean Tatars subsequently stormed the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea, releasing 26 abducted squatters. [11]

 

Crimean Tatars have been recognised as an indigenous people since the 1996 Constitution of Ukraine, which also granted them a limited number of seats in the 1994 Crimean parliamentary election. However, Tatars have consistently faced discrimination and intimidation from the authorities of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, which has primarily been governed by ethnic Russians, representing a divide between the views of the Russian majority in Crimea and the views in Kiev. [12]

 

Further complicating matters are Moscow’s interests in Crimea, as well as its continued presence through its base at Sevastopol. The 1994 Budapest Memorandum committed Russia to recognize Ukraine’s pos-Soviet borders whilst Ukraine pledged to transfer its massive stockpile of Soviet-era nuclear weapons to Russia for decommissioning.[13] The Black Sea Fleet was divided between the two, with Russia granted an extended lease on the port facilities at Sevastopol. 

 

Russian Aggression

Whilst the full scale invasion of Ukraine officially began in February of 2022, there had been instances of Russian aggression for decades. 

 

In the early 2000s, Ukraine underwent the Orange Revolution, a series of protests that led to major political upheaval. In the aftermath of a highly contested election–one that faced allegations of voter intimidation, corruption and electoral fraud–mass sit-ins, general strikes and demonstrations led to a re-vote that saw the election of Viktor Yushchenko.[14] 

 

In Crimea, the predominantly Russian population remained staunch supporters of Viktor Yanukovych–the ousted Prime Minister–and his pro-Russian Party of Regions. In 2010, Yanukovych became president, and extended Russia’s lease on the Sevastopol port until 2042. He also allowed Russia to base as many as 25,000 troops at Sevastopol and maintain a pair of air bases in Crimea.[15] 

 

In February of 2014, Yanukovych fled Kiev after his government was toppled by popular protests. Days later, masked gunmen later identified as Russian troops seized the Crimean parliament building and pro-Russian legislators convened a closed session to elect Sergey Aksyonov, the leader of the Russian Unity Party, as prime minister. It is important to note that the Russian Unity Party had previously only had minimal parliamentary representation, receiving less than 5 percent of the vote in the 2010 regional election. It is also important to note the political divide between Crimea’s Russian population and its Tatar one, with the latter overwhelmingly supporting continued association with Ukraine.[16] 

 

In March of 2014, Putin received parliamentary approval to dispatch troops to Crimea, ostensibly to protect its Russian population. Within days, Russian forces and paramilitary groups were the de facto authorities in the peninsula. It was under these conditions that the Crimean parliament voted unanimously to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation. [18] 

 

After the annexation, fighting broke out in eastern Ukraine between pro-Kremlin militias and Kyiv's forces, with the former receiving support from Moscow in the form of troops and weapons. This fighting continued, on and off, until the full scale invasion in 2022. Russia’s early expansion into Eastern Ukraine was largely modeled after its covert military operation in Crimea, with pro-Russia militias asserting control of Donetsk and Luhansk in April of 2014. While the takeover of Crimea was nearly bloodless, the situation in eastern Ukraine quickly descended into a state of open warfare that claimed more than 10,000 lives over the next four years. [19]

 

Throughout the conflict, Crimea has provided a direct line of access to Ukraine, which Russia has used throughout the conflict to move arms and troops. This also allowed Russia to quickly seize large portions of territory in Southern Ukraine, as leading up to the full-scale invasion, troops and weapons had already been deployed to Crimea. 

 

Putin listed Ukraine's recognition of Crimea as part of Russia among Moscow's demands for peace in 2024. Those also include Ukraine ceding the four regions illegally annexed by Russia in 2022, dropping its bid to join NATO, keeping the country's nonnuclear status, restricting its military force and protecting the interests of the Russian-speaking population. Kyiv has rejected ceding any territory. [20]

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Whether Russia’s occupation of Crimea ends or not determines the security of Ukraine, regional economic livelihood, as well as the safety of the Crimean Tatars. It is impossible to know how the conflict will continue, but the fate of Crimea will undoubtedly play a significant role in any sort of negotiations. 

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Citations

[1],[4],[5],[7],[8],[9],[13],[19] "Crimea - Russian annexation, Crimean War, Tatar rule | Britannica," Encyclopedia Britannica, last modified September 5, 2025, https://www.britannica.com/place/Crimea/History. 

 

[2], [10],[14] "What is the Crimea, and why does it matter?," 2014, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10671066/What-is-the-Crimea-and-why-does-it-matter.html  

 

[3] Administrator, "Crimea and Its Tatars: the Crux of the Ukraine War • Jon Richardson," Inside Story, last modified June 11, 2023, https://insidestory.org.au/crimea-the-tatars-and-russias-war/#:~:text=Before%20the%201783%20takeover%2C%20the,which%20ga 

 

[6] Brian G. Williams, "Hijra and forced migration from nineteenth-century Russia to the Ottoman Empire," Cahiers du monde russe 41, no. 1 (2000): 79-108, doi:10.4000/monderusse.39.

 

[11],[12] "CАМОПОВЕРНЕННЯ В КРИМ," Українська правда - новини онлайн про Україну, accessed June 29, 2026, https://www.pravda.com.ua/cdn/graphics/2021/samopovernennja_v_krym/. 

 

[15],[16],[17],[18],[20]  "What to Know About Crimea, the Peninsula Russia Seized from Ukraine in 2014," PBS News, last modified August 18, 2025, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/what-to-know-about-crimea-the-peninsula-russia-seized-from-ukraine-in-2014. 

 

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Glossary 

Thoroughfare: The main road or passage

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Khanate of Crimea: A Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to 1783

 

White: One of two main factions in the Russian Civil War. A loose coalition largely defined by their anti-Bolshevik sentiment

 

Separatism: The advocacy or practice of separating a certain group of people from a larger group, be it national, religious etc

 

Collectivization: An era of Soviet policies that aimed to turn private farmland into collectively owned state property

 

Constituent Republic: In the Soviet Union, constituent republics were legally sovereign states yet operated with significant funding and control from the USSR

 

Squatting: The practice of illegally occupying an unused or abandoned building

 

Verkhovna Rada of Crimea: The Ukrainian legislative body for the Autonomous Republic of Crimea

 

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Bibliography

Administrator. "Crimea and Its Tatars: the Crux of the Ukraine War • Jon Richardson." Inside Story. Last modified June 11, 2023. https://insidestory.org.au/crimea-the-tatars-and-russias war/#:~:text=Before%20the%201783%20takeover%2C%20the,which%20gave%20them%20their%20name.

 

"Crimea - Russian annexation, Crimean War, Tatar rule | Britannica." Encyclopedia Britannica. Last modified September 5, 2025. https://www.britannica.com/place/Crimea/History.

 

"CАМОПОВЕРНЕННЯ В КРИМ." Українська правда - новини онлайн про Україну. Accessed June 29, 2026. https://www.pravda.com.ua/cdn/graphics/2021/samopovernennja_v_krym/.

 

The Daily Telegraph. "What is the Crimea, and why does it matter?" March 2, 2014. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10671066/What-is-the-Crimea-and-why-does-it-matter.html.

 

"What to Know About Crimea, the Peninsula Russia Seized from Ukraine in 2014." PBS News. Last modified August 18, 2025. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/what-to-know-about-crimea-the-peninsula-russia-seized-from-ukraine-in-2014.

 

Williams, Brian G. "Hijra and forced migration from nineteenth-century Russia to the Ottoman Empire." Cahiers du monde russe 41, no. 1 (2000), 79-108. doi:10.4000/monderusse.39.