page_title: Republic of Crimea
section_title: Annexation and integration to Russian Federation
hierarchical_section_title: Republic of Crimea / History / Annexation and integration to Russian Federation
caption_attribution_description: English: Diagram showing the merge, independence, and separation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol.
context_page_description: The Republic of Crimea is a federal subject of Russia that is located on the Crimean Peninsula. The capital city and largest city within the republic is Simferopol, which is also the second largest city of Crimea, behind the federal city of Sevastopol. At the last census, the republic had a population of 1,891,465.
  The Republic of Crimea came into existence as a republic within the Russian Federation following the events of 2014: in March 2014, after the takeover of Crimea by pro-Russian separatists and the Russian Armed Forces, a referendum was held, in violation of the Ukrainian Constitution, on the issue of joining Russia. The official result was that Crimeans voted overwhelmingly in support of that option. Russia then annexed Crimea with the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol becoming two federal subjects of Russia.
  Russia and 17 UN member states officially recognize Crimea as part of the Russian Federation, while Ukraine and 114 other UN member states do not. Ukraine continues to claim Crimea as an integral part of its territory as the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, supported by most foreign governments, and various United Nations General Assembly resolutions.
context_section_description: On 18 March 2014, the self-proclaimed independent Republic of Crimea signed a treaty of accession to the Russian Federation. The accession was granted but separately for each the former regions that composed it: one accession for the Autonomous Republic of Crimea as the Republic of Crimea—the same name as the short-lived self-proclaimed independent republic—and another accession for Sevastopol as a federal city. The accession was only recognised internationally by a few states with most regarding the action as illegal. Ukraine refused to accept the annexation, still the Ukrainian military began to withdraw from Crimea on 19 March. A transition period, during which both parties to the accession treaty were to resolve the issues of integration of the new subjects "in the economic, financial, credit and legal system of the Russian Federation", was set to last until 1 January 2015.
  The integration process started within days: on 24 March the Russian ruble went into official circulation with parallel circulation of the Ukrainian hryvnia permitted until 1 January 2016, however, taxes and fees were to be paid in rubles only, and the wages of employees at budget-receiving organisations were to be paid out in rubles as well. On 29 March, the clocks in Crimea were moved forward to Moscow time and on 31 March the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced a series of programmes aimed at swiftly incorporating the territory into Russia's economy and infrastructure. The creation of a new ministry for Crimean affairs was announced too. Also on 31 March, the Russian Foreign Ministry declared that foreign citizens visiting Crimea needed to apply for a visa to the Russian Federation at one of Russian diplomatic missions or its consulates.
  On 3 April 2014, Moscow sent a diplomatic note to Ukraine on terminating the actions of agreements concerning the deployment of the Russian Federation's Black Sea Fleet on the territory of Ukraine. As part of the agreements, Russia used to pay the Ukrainian government $530 million annually for the base, and wrote off nearly $100 million of Kiev's debt for the right to use Ukrainian waters. Ukraine also received a discount of $100 on each 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas imported from Russia, which was provided for by cutting export duties on the gas, money that would have gone into the Russian state budget. The Kremlin declared that because the base is no longer located in Ukraine, so there are no legal grounds for the discount to be continued.
  On 3 April 2014, Crimea and the city of Sevastopol became part of Russia's Southern Military District.
  On 11 April 2014, the parliament of Crimea approved a new constitution, with 88 out of 100 lawmakers voting in favor of its adoption. The constitution confirms the Republic of Crimea as a democratic state within the Russian Federation and declares both territories united and inseparable. The Crimean Parliament will become smaller and have 75 members instead of the current 100. According to the Kommersant newspaper, the authorities, including the State Council chair Vladimir Konstantinov,unofficially promised that certain quotas would be reserved for Crimean Tatars in various government bodies. On the same day, a new revision of the Russian Constitution was officially published, with the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol included in the list of federal subjects of the Russian Federation.
  On 12 April 2014, the Constitution of the Republic of Crimea, adopted at the session of the State Council on 11 April, entered into legal force. The constitution was published by the Krymskiye Izvestiya newspaper, becoming law on the publication date, the State Council of Crimea said. The Constitution consists of 10 chapters and 95 articles; its main regulations are analogous to the articles of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The text proclaims the Republic of Crimea is a democratic, legal state within the Russian Federation and an equal subject of the Russian Federation. The source of power in the Crimean Republic is its people, which consti
caption: Diagram showing the merge, short-lived independence, and separation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol that led to the Republic of Crimea becoming a federal subject of Russia.
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