Ukraine’s Crimea region: Review some key historical and geopolitical facts

Patchwork Nation

Pro-European sentiment is stronger in the western reaches of Ukraine, parts of which were annexed from Europe during World War II. Crimea, with a Russian naval base, is more aligned with Moscow, as is eastern Ukraine, where President Yanukovich has sought refuge.

Share of votes going to Yanukovych in 2009 election

78%

Crimea

84%

Sevastopol

48.9%

Nationally

Sources: News reports, public records and archives, UNPO.org, flot.sevastopol.info, staff reporting.

Disputed Land-History

Crimea has been fought over since the dawn of time. Goths and Huns, Bulgars and Byzantines, Tatars and Turks have all vied for control of a key chokepoint on the route by which the riches of the Russian steppes have made their way to European markets further south and west.

From 700 BC

Greeks settle along the coast of Crimea; their colonies are subsequently absorbed into the Roman empire.

1400

Middle Ages

The Crimean peninsula is overrun by a succession of nomadic tribes. Merchants from Venice, then Genoa, take control of the main trading posts.

1441

Tatars Establish Crimean Khanate

Tatars, ruled by descendants of Genghis Khan, establish the Crimean Khanate, which exists for 300 years as a protectorate of the Ottoman Empire.

1783

Russia Annexes the Khanate

Russia, under Catherine the Great, annexes the Khanate, and establishes a naval base at Sevastopol.

Roger Fenton, Crimean War photograph collection/Library of Congress

Colonel Patrick Doherty, officers and men of the 13th Light Dragoons.

1853 — 1856

Crimean War

Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire launch the Crimean War to thwart Russian imperial ambitions. The Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, and the year-long Siege of Sevastopol, are immortalized by Tennyson and Tolstoy.

1941

Sevastopol falls to the Nazis

In another epic siege, Sevastopol holds out for eight months before falling to the Nazis.

Associated Press

German bombers fly towards the Gate of the Crimea, the narrow neck of the Russian black-sea Peninsula, Nov. 6, 1941.

1944

Stalin Expels Tatar Population

After liberating Crimea, Stalin orders the deportation of Crimea’s 200,000 Tatar population, on a false pretext of having collaborated with the Nazis. According to Tatar estimates, over 40% of the deportees die en route or in exile.

PhotoQuest/Getty Images

Joseph Stalin, undated portrait.

1954

Crimea Transferred to Ukraine

Nikita Khrushchev, Stalin’s successor and a Ukrainian himself, orders the transfer of Crimea to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, after a mere 15 minutes of discussion in the Soviet Communist Party’s central committee.

Associated Press

Nikita Khrushchev in 1965.

1991

Ukrainian Independence

Ukraine becomes independent of the USSR. Crimea, excluding the municipality of Sevastopol, becomes an “autonomous republic” of Ukraine. Tatars begin to return to the region, lobbying Kiev for restitution of their property.

Anatoly Sapronenko/AFP/Getty Images

Credit: Associated Press

1997

Soviet Black Sea Fleet Divided

Russia and Ukraine divide the Soviet Black Sea Fleet between them. Russia gets to lease the Sevastopol naval base for a minimum of 20 years.

Associated Press

Then-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, left, and Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko prepared to sign three pacts on the Black Sea Fleet, May 28, 1997. 

2010

Sevastopol Lease Extended

Russia and Ukraine extend the lease on the Sevastopol base to 2042.

Library of Congress

Sebastopol between 1890 and 1900. 

2014

Crimean Parliament Occupied

Armed men proclaiming loyalty to Russia take control of the Crimean parliament in the capital, Simferopol, after the ousting of President Yanukovych.

Arthur Shwartz/European Pressphoto Agency

Pro-Russia activists stood with Crimean and Russian flags in front of the parliament building in Simferopol, Feb. 27, 2014.

February 28, 2014

Yanukovych Emerges

Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, whose ouster a week ago set off the chain of events that has led to the instability in Crimea, said in a news conference in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don that he thought Ukraine must remain united and that military action there was "unacceptable."

Associated Press

Ukraine's ousted President Viktor Yanukovych speaks at a news conference in Rostov-on-Don, a city in southern Russia about 600 miles from Moscow.

Russia’s Aging Fleet

The Black Sea Fleet is a shadow of its former Soviet self but, with new commissions coming, is still capable of projecting Russian power. Photos by Black Sea Navy.

Moskva: 1164-class missile cruiser

Commissioned: 1983

11,300 tons, 680 crew members

Two diesel-electric submarines

(only one of which is operational)

Kerch: Anti-submarine cruiser

Commisioned: 1971

8,600 tons

Smetlivy: Anti-submarine cruiser

Commissioned: 1969

4,500 tons

Ladny: 1135-class Frigate

Commissioned: 1978

3,200 tons

Pytlivy: 1135-class Frigate

Commissioned: 1979

3,200 tons

Other ships in the fleet

7

LSTs - Landing Ship (Tank)

4

Anti-submarine Corvettes

4

Minesweepers

16

other smaller surface vessels based at Novorossisk.

Vessels that have been ordered

Admiral Grigorovich Class Frigates

3 ordered

1 is due to be commissioned in March 2014

3,620 tons

Improved-Kilo class diesel electric subs

6 have been ordered

1 is due to be commissioned in June 2014

Sources: News reports, public records and archives, UNPO.org, flot.sevastopol.info, staff reporting.

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