It is well known that in history Tsarist Russia had a crazy obsession with territorial expansion, from a small Muscovite principality to the largest country in the world. However, Russia has not suffered losses, such as selling the vast Alaska to the United States for $7.2 million in 1864, and it is still remorseful, and it is completely impossible to take it back at this stage. Russia has also generously given away land, and finally repented of taking it back, which is Crimea.
Located on the Crimean Peninsula, bordering the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, Crimea is across the sea from Turkey, with an area of 25,500 square kilometers, almost 4 Shanghais, and a population of 1.91 million. Inhabited as early as the 7th century BC, Crimea was once the territory of the Roman Empire and was later ruled by an unknown number of kingdoms, and it is certain that the Crimea region did not belong to Russia in history.
Around the 10th century, the East Slavs founded Kievan Rus' in what is now Ukraine, and Kievan Rus' is considered the precursor to Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. By the 13th century, Genghis Khan's descendants had invaded Eastern Europe, and both Crimea and Kievan Rus' had become vassals of the Golden Horde. However, the Mongols came and went in a hurry, and soon declined, and the Muscovite Principality and the Crimean Khanate became independent. By this time, however, the Ottoman Turks had grown stronger and began to occupy Crimea.
After Ukraine broke away from Kievan Rus', it was also invaded by many countries, the Ukrainians rose up against the aggression of Poland, due to the disparity in strength, and finally thought of the "cousin" Russia, and finally the Tsar drove away Poland, and conveniently divided Poland, and now a lot of land in Ukraine is the original Poland. In 1654, the Ukrainian merchants asked Tsarist Russia to rule, and in effect Ukraine became part of the Russian Empire.
After russia had Ukraine, it desperately needed the sea access to the Black Sea, so it began to compete with Ottoman Turkey for the Crimean Peninsula, and after several Russo-Turkish wars, Tsarist Russia got Crimea in 1783. Due to the prominent geographical location of Crimea, during World War II, the Soviet and German armies fought here for more than half a year, and after the war, the Soviet Union carried out large-scale immigration to Crimea, which changed the local ethnic structure, and now about 65% of Russians and about 20% of Ukrainians
In 1954, in order to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the russian-Ukrainian merger, Khrushchev generously gave Crimea to Ukraine. After all, at this time, the two "countries" were one family, and Khrushchev was once the leader of Ukraine, and it made sense to send a piece of land. However, since the collapse of the Soviet Union and Crimea became part of Ukraine, Russia has begun to repent. At first, Forced by the needs of domestic economic construction, Russia did not free up its hands to return to Crimea, but only leased the port of Sevastopol as a base for the Black Sea Fleet.
But as Ukraine draws closer to the West and joins NATO, Russia can no longer bear it. In 2014, Russia directly sent troops to control the Crimea region, and Crimea held a referendum on independence, after which it was declared to be annexed to Russia. Although the annexation of Crimea, Russia also paid a heavy price, because of the blockade of the economy is fast, but Crimea with Russia's continuous investment, the economy is getting better and better, per capita income has been greatly improved.