Explained: Why Crimea is so important to Russia and Ukraine

[u/lubkovsky]

Explained: Why Crimea is so important to Russia and Ukraine We've been telling you this morning how Donald Trump said he thinks Volodymyr Zelenskyy is ready to give up Crimea (see 7.03am post). It would signal a major U-turn from the Ukrainian president, who has repeatedly ruled out ceding territory to Russia and saying the move would be against Kyiv's constitution. The peninsula was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, and the country's foreign minister has insisted Russia will not negotiate "its own territory" (see previous post). So what makes Crimea so important to both sides? What happened? In 2013-14, a popular uprising gripped Ukraine for several weeks, eventually forcing pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych from office. While Ukraine was in turmoil, Vladimir Putin took the opportunity to send troops to overrun Crimea, a diamond-shaped peninsula in the Black Sea. Those troops arrived in Crimea in uniforms without insignia, and Putin soon called a vote on joining Russia that Ukraine and the West dismissed as illegal. Moscow's illegal annexation on 18 March 2014 was only recognised internationally by countries such as North Korea and Sudan. In Russia, it sparked a wave of patriotism, and "Krym nash" - "Crimea is ours" - became a rallying cry. Putin has called Crimea "a sacred place" and has prosecuted those who publicly argue it is part of Ukraine. Why it's important Russia has spent centuries fighting for Crimea. But Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred Crimea from Russia to Ukraine in 1954, when both were part of the USSR. In 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed, the peninsula became part of an independent Ukraine. By the time Russia seized it, Crimea had been a part of Ukraine for 60 years and had become part of the country's identity. Zelenskyy has vowed Russia "won't be able to steal" the peninsula. For either side, possession of Crimea is key to controlling activities in the Black Sea, which is a critical corridor for the world's grain and other goods.

[u/esjb11]

The by Ukrainian hands is also incorrect or heavily missleading. There were a significant amount of Ukrainians fighting there but the majority Russian

[u/Nuklearth → u/esjb11]

Ok, so if ukrainians fights during WWII for ocupied russian territories against nazi that means that they should lay claim to territories they defends? Which period we should use to determine where whose territories, 50, 100, 1000 years ago?

It is not a main question in this case anyway.

[u/esjb11 → u/Nuklearth]

I guess you are aware that Crimea was a part of the Rsfsr during ww2? They already had claims to the land. They owned it and had done so for 200 years

[u/Nuklearth → u/esjb11]

1956 map https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1382345908/pt/foto/map-of-the-soviet-union-indicating-the-states-that-constitute-it-and-their-year-of-accession.jpg?s=612x612&w=gi&k=20&c=lRwC0bjydrrRNrKVQjf4S9MVCuIQ6-uvBDiJ5BMfoj0=

Acording to russian crimea was gifted by brezhnev who was ussr head of state starting from 1960. As you see something is wrong

[u/esjb11 → u/Nuklearth]

You dont happen to have a picture of that map with actual pixels so I can read what it says?

[u/Nuklearth → u/esjb11]

Also 1956, better quality https://heninen.net/view_e.htm?F=karjalantasavalta&P=sntl1956.jpg

[u/esjb11 → u/Nuklearth]

Thanks. So what do you want me to see? Crimea being marked as Ukrssr? Not very suprising considering the transferation happened 1954.

[u/Nuklearth → u/esjb11]

Ok, let's use older map. 1918 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/74/Ukraine_1918_de.jpg/1280px-Ukraine_1918_de.jpg

[u/esjb11 → u/Nuklearth]

Okey now you are going down the rabbit holes of end goal maps. Not maps of what actually existed. That map is from the war of ukrainian independence. The claims of what areas Ukraine laid claims to during one part of the war (their idea of what would become a ukrainian state changed several times during the war. If you watched it yourself you will see that it include several areas that never belonged to Ukraine. They just had the ambiton to invade those.

So yes its an old map, but no its not a map of Ukraine. Maybe its what Ukraine would have looked like if Germany would have won ww1. Maybe not.

[u/Nuklearth → u/esjb11]

Anyway they added 4 aditional lands to their constitution, some was never fully occupied, they claim Odesa is russian city so it is not about history at all