Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation

Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation
	Part of the Russo-Ukrainian War
	; Russian President Vladimir Putin signs the treaty of accession (annexation) with Crimean leaders in Moscow, 18 March 2014.
Date	20 February – 26 March 2014; (1 month and 6 days)
Location	Crimea
Result	Russian victory
Belligerents
Russia;	Ukraine;
Commanders and leaders
Vladimir Putin; Dmitry Medvedev; Sergey Shoygu; Valery Gerasimov; Aleksandr Vitko; Oleg Belaventsev; Alexey Dyumin; Sergey Aksyonov; Vladimir Konstantinov; Viktor Pshonka; Rustam Temirgaliev; Alexey Chaly;	Oleksandr Turchynov; Arseniy Yatsenyuk; Ihor Tenyukh; Mykhailo Kutsyn; Serhiy Hayduk; Arsen Avakov; Valentyn Nalyvaichenko; Andriy Parubiy; Anatolii Mohyliov; Serhiy Kunitsyn; Refat Chubarov; Mustafa Dzhemilev;
Units involved
Based in Crimea,; elements of Navy 510th Naval Inf Bde (Feodosiia); 810th Naval Inf Bde (Simferopol); Deployed to Crimea, elements of Ground Forces 18th Mot Rifle Bde (Grozny); 291st Artillery Bde (Troitskaya); (GRU command) 3rd Spetsnaz Bde (Tolyatti); 10th Spetsnaz Bde (Krasnodar); 16th Spetsnaz Bde (Tambov); 22nd Spetsnaz Bde (Stepnoy); 25th Spetsnaz Rgt (Stavropol); 45th Spetsnaz Rgt; (Kubinka, Moscow); Airborne 7th Air Assault Div (Novorossiysk); 31st Air Assault Bde; (Ulyanovsk); Navy 382nd Naval Inf Bn (Temryuk); 727th Naval Inf Bn (Astrakhan); Special Operations Forces SOF Command (Prokhladny);	Armed forces Navy 36th Coastal Def Bde (at Perevalne) 1st Naval Inf Bn (Feodosiia); 56th Gds Bn (Sevastopol); 501st Naval Inf Bn (Kerch); ; 406th Artillery Bde (Simferopol); 37th Comms and Control Rgt (Sevastopol); Paramilitary Interior troops 9th Bde (Simferopol); 15th Bn (Yevpatoriia); 18th Spec Mot Militia Bn (Haspra); 42nd Operational Rgt (Sevastopol); 47th Bde (Feodosiia); Border guards Special-Purpose Border Guard Bn (Yalta);
Strength
Protesters 20,000 (Sevastopol); 10,000 (Simferopol); Volunteer units 5,000 (Sevastopol); 1,700 (Simferopol); Russian military forces 20,000–30,000 troops;	Protesters 4,000–10,000 (Simferopol); Ukrainian military forces 5,000–22,000 troops; 40,000 reservists, partly mobilised (outside Crimea);
Casualties and losses
1 Crimean SDF trooper killed	2 soldiers killed; 60–80 soldiers detained; 9,268 military servicemen and 7,050 civilian employees defected;
	2 civilian deaths (during the protests), 1 civilian killed (by Crimean SDF under command of a former Russian serviceman)

In February and March 2014, Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula, part of Ukraine, and then annexed it. This took place in the relative power vacuum immediately following the Revolution of Dignity and was the first act of the wider Russo-Ukrainian War.

The events in Kyiv that ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych on 22 February 2014 sparked pro-Russian demonstrations as of 23 February against the incoming Ukrainian government. At the same time Russian president Vladimir Putin discussed Ukrainian events with security service chiefs remarking that "we must start working on returning Crimea to Russia". On 27 February, Russian troops seized strategic sites across Crimea, followed by the installation of the pro-Russian Aksyonov government in Crimea, the Crimean status referendum, and the declaration of Crimea's independence on 16 March 2014. Although Russia initially claimed their military was not involved in the events, Putin later admitted that troops were deployed to "stand behind Crimea's self-defence forces". Russia formally incorporated Crimea on 18 March 2014. Following the annexation, Russia escalated its military presence on the peninsula and made threats to solidify the new status quo on the ground.

Ukraine and many other countries condemned the annexation and consider it to be a violation of international law and Russian agreements safeguarding the territorial integrity of Ukraine. The annexation led to the other members of the G8 suspending Russia from the group and introducing sanctions. The United Nations General Assembly also rejected the referendum and annexation, adopting a resolution affirming the "territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders", and referring to the Russian action as a "temporary occupation".

The Russian government opposes the "annexation" label, with Putin defending the referendum as complying with the principle of the self-determination of peoples.

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