The 1954 transfer of Crimea : debunking the myth of a 'Royal Gift' to Ukraine
Journal: Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University)
Year: 2020

This article deconstructs the myth of a “royal gift” which pictures the 1954 transfer of Crimea from Russia to Ukraine as an arbitrary act carried out unlawfully and unjustly at the whim of a wrong‐headed Soviet ruler, Nikita Khrushchev. This, by now popular tale has been used by the Kremlin to justify the 2014 annexation of Crimea. By such a reasoning, in 2014, the Crimea was not annexed, but was rather “reunified” with the Russian Federation. Moscow’s land‐grab was thus allegedly not a real vi