Occupation since 2014

Russia annexed Crimea and established control over parts of the Donetsk and
Luhansk oblasts in 2014. Today it is deploying many of the methods it used
there in the territories occupied since February 2022. But there are some
important differences.

Russia’s occupation of Crimea in spring 2014 took advantage of the political

crisis in Ukraine and the pro-Russian mobilization on the peninsula. The
territory of Crimea was annexed through a hastily organized quasi-referendum
that – although not recognized internationally – was used to legitimize the
‘unification’ of Crimea with the Russian Federation. The annexation was
completed almost without violence and Moscow claimed that it was not
involved militarily. One year later, Putin publicly admitted that a ‘special
operation’ had in fact been carried out in Crimea.