On March 16, 2014, in the democratic vote, Crimea belonged to a referendum, more than 80% of Crimean citizens participated in the vote, the result was approved with a 97% approval rate, the Crimean Autonomous Republic announced to the international community that from that day on, it would no longer accept the leadership of Ukraine, and applied to the Russian government Putin to join the Russian Federation.
Correspondingly, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the referendum valid, he sent troops and police to take over the Crimea region, and passed territorial regulations that set the boundaries of Crimea, legally truly taking Crimea for himself.
For a time caused an uproar in the world, the European Union immediately issued a condemnation statement against Russia, the United States, Germany, France and other countries composed of the Group of Seven also issued a statement and refused to recognize this referendum, since then, European countries and the United States have repeatedly launched economic sanctions against Russia, and the Russian economy has fallen into a downturn.
The bloody conflict in eastern Ukraine caused by the Crimean referendum continues to this day and was even once thought to be the trigger for World War III. So what kind of place is Crimea? Why is there a scramble among the major powers? Was the source of the crimean chaos really because Khrushchev was drunk?
First, the melting pot of nations in Europe
From the map, the shape of the Crimean region is very obvious, it is like a boot stepping into the Black Sea, the "boot edge" is the Isthmus of Pelekop, connected to Ukraine, the widest point is only 8 kilometers, southeast of Crimea through the Chik Strait and Russia and the core of the strait, the width of the strait is only more than 40 kilometers.
The southern part of the peninsula is the Black Sea, the surrounding waters are above 0 degrees Celsius, can be navigable all year round, and the Waters adjacent to the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf and other regions produce oil, natural gas, from the Crimea region to send troops, you can easily cut off the global pipeline to europe and the United States to export oil and gas.
The dangerous location, the abundant resources, and naturally brought countless wars to Crimea. When the Mongols conquered Europe, the rulers were the Golden Horde, which after its decline split into the Crimean Khanate, where the Tatars were the main inhabitants.
Subsequently, in the Fifth and Sixth Russo-Turkish Wars, Crimea became the main battlefield of the war between the two sides, and with the defeat of Turkey, Tsarist Russia occupied it.
After the October Revolution, the Soviet Union, as the successor of Tsarist Russia, naturally also owned the land of Crimea, but the local Tatars in Crimea were not close to the Russians, but closer to Turkey and Western Europe.
During World War II, the indigenous Tatars of Crimea mostly served in the Nazi German army and were willing to be their pawns. In the Soviet army, the Tatars ignored military discipline, fell behind many times, and even gave information to the Nazi German army.
After the end of World War II, the indigenous Tatars in Crimea were severely retaliated against by Stalin, and more than 2.225 million Tatars were relocated to foreign countries, subject to local discrimination and strict control. At the same time, a large number of ethnic Russians were moved into crimea, and through the replacement of ethnic groups, the Soviet Union completed a firm grip on Crimea.
2. Commemorative ceremony for the 300th anniversary
Russians generally believe that it was Khrushchev who was drunk at the time and signed an agreement to give Crimea to Ukraine after getting drunk.
This certainly does not correspond to the fact that no matter how powerful Khrushchev is, it is impossible to play such a child. In fact, the incorporation of Crimea into Ukraine went through a very formal set of procedures in the Soviet Union at the time.
In 1954, in order to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the merger of Russia and Ukraine, Khrushchev, the first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee from Ukraine, after a meeting of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee, expressed to the other members of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee the idea of deciding to transfer Crimea Oblast from Russia to Ukraine.
On January 25, 1954, under the presidency of Malenkov, a member of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee and chairman of the Council of Ministers, the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee formed a draft resolution of the CPSU Central Committee. Next, the Supreme Council of Soviets of the USSR adopted the draft and formed a resolution that could be submitted to the Council of Soviet Deputies.
At the meeting of the Presidium of the Third Supreme Soviet of the USSR the following month, the delegates unanimously agreed to annex Crimea to Ukraine, and they formally adopted the resolution by a vote.
This resolution is simply unbelievable to russians today, but it was a perfectly normal decision in the eyes of the Soviets at that time.
Heaven forbid, when Ukraine and Russia had been united for 300 years, the peoples of the two places were intertwined, and under the banner of the Soviet Union, the fraternal alliance was the consensus of the time, and it was not unusual to make such a decision in the context of this era.
Geographically, Ukraine is geographically close to Crimea, and Ukraine's large amount of fertile land can better help Crimea improve its local living standards. Tassasov, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation, thinks
"Ukraine is geographically close to the Crimean Oblast, its economies are complementary, and there are cultural ties throughout history. On this basis, for the fraternal friendship of the two socialist republics, it is proposed that the Crimean Oblast be assigned to Ukraine. ”
At that time, Crimea was already occupied by the Russians, and handing it over to Ukraine could better promote the unity of these two socialist fraternal countries.
Thus, from the discussion to the resolution, in less than a month, the matter was decided, and soon after the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued the Order on the Transfer of crimea Oblast from the Russian Federation to Ukraine. The legal process for the change of ownership of crimea was thus completed.
Third, the internationalization of the Crimean question
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russians hoped to get Crimea back, but as early as November 1990, on the eve of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia and Ukraine had signed an agreement that the two sides did not make territorial claims to each other, and the CIS Treaty also stipulated that the borders of member states would not be changed, under which Crimea legally belonged to Ukraine.
However, as a result of Soviet-era immigration initiatives, the structure of Crimea's population has changed radically, with more than 67% of the local population ethnic Russians, and their desire to become one with Russia.
On December 1, 1991, Crimea supported independence at 54 percent in a referendum on Ukrainian independence, the lowest percentage in the country of Ukraine.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia suffered a major economic loss due to shock therapy, but after entering the 21st century, it has steadily improved under Putin's leadership.
Ukraine, on the other hand, because of the corruption and incompetence of its leaders, blindly approached the West, and continued to be depressed under the premise of holding a large number of heavy industrial assets of the Soviet Union and a large area of fertile soil in eastern Ukraine, a large number of people were hungry, and the people at the bottom had to take on high-risk or illegal work. Ukraine is known as the "European Womb" because many Ukrainian women surrogate Europeans, a job that is very damaging to women's bodies, but they can't refuse in order to survive.
Although Russia also suffered economic pain after the dissolution, compared with the tragic situation in Ukraine, it can still be regarded as a level of food and clothing, and the growth rate has exceeded that of Ukraine. On the one hand, Russia as the successor of the Soviet Union, the international status is still there, the economic strength is also rising, on the other hand, it is Ukraine willing to be a european and American lackey, the economic strength is sluggish, Crimeans have long regarded themselves as a member of Russia, naturally can not stand such a gap.
The Russians have always believed that Khrushchev's ceding of Crimea was a huge mistake. Putin even claimed that Crimea was "stolen land", and under such a two-way rush, the referendum in Crimea was completed.
Although Russia has taken back Crimea as it wishes, it is still suffering the consequences of taking back it: multiple rounds of sanctions in Europe and the United States, frequent chaos in Crimea, decline in international prestige, and so on. In other parts of eastern Ukraine, there have also been several rounds of internal conflict.
Fourth, the real culprit
Did the chaos in Crimea really stem from Khrushchev?
The resolution made by Khrushchev, that is, the presidium of the CPSU at that time, was based entirely on the premise that the Soviet Union was a dominant power, under the leadership of the Soviet Union, Russia and Ukraine were as close as brothers, and the ownership of Crimea was nothing more than a left hand to a right hand, not so much a substantive division of belonging, but rather a symbolic gift to celebrate the 300 years of Russia and Ukraine.
The Soviet Union's national anthem was called "The Unbreakable Alliance," and Khrushchev, who made this decision, could never have imagined that in less than 30 years, the unbreakable alliance would fall apart so quickly. If it were not for the collapse of the Soviet Union, the gift of Crimea would have been a line of de jurisprudence. The real culprits are the people who split the Soviet Union.
In 1991, the Soviet Union split, and in 2013, Russia split Ukraine, and Crimea returned to Russia's embrace, hoping that the soil of this land of four wars could be stabilized and move towards the beautiful society that the Soviets had once idealized.
Text/Dream
Resources:
1. "The Problem of Crimean Attribution from a Multidimensional Perspective", Wang Dong
2. "Crimea's Past and Present Life Russia, the League and ukraine crisis" Chinese Academy of Social Sciences