Why Russia took Crimea first

The war in Ukraine began nine years before Putin's invasion in 2022. In late February 2014, armed soldiers in uniforms without insignia began to occupy Crimea. Despite their Russian weapons and equipment, Russia denied involvement. Just two months after their appearance, Putin declared Crimea was now part of Russia. It marked the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War. So what led to the annexation of Crimea in 2014? And why does the Crimean Peninsula continue to be a crucial sticking point in negotiations in 2023?

One year on from the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, we talk to Research Fellow Emily Ferris from RUSI about the origins of the Russo-Ukrainian War and how it’s developed over the past nine years, as well as to photojournalist Anastasia Taylor-Lind who was working in Ukraine between 2014 and 2022.

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CREDITS
Photos of the ‘Little Green Men’ in Crimea in 2014 © Ilya Varlamov
Photo of the H. Pshenychnoy Center for the Development of Social Sciences and Humanities.
Photo of Yanukovych © ВАДИМ ЧУПРИНА
Photo of G7 meeting 2014: Crown copyright. Photographer: Arron Hoare
Video footage of the March 2014 Crimean referendum voting polls via YT Юрий Дейнека / Yuri Deineka
Minsk Agreement meeting AFP PHOTO / PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / POOL / MYKOLA LAZARENKO
War tanks of pro-Russian separatists on February 23, 2022 heading for the Donbass-Ukraine border via Gennadiy Dubovoy
President Zelenskiy at the ballot box 2019 via Фото Миколи Лазаренка / The Presidential Office of Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelensky 2019 presidential inauguration via Mykhaylo Markiv / The Presidential Administration of Ukraine
A Russia-backed rebel armored fighting vehicles convoy near Donetsk via Mstyslav Chernov
Battalion "Donbas" in Donetsk region via Ліонкінг
Participants of the First Summit of the Crimean Platform via ОПУ
Crimean Platform photos via the website of the President of Ukraine

[ceemichel]

Russia was able to take Crimea first because the Russian military (army, Air Force and navy) already had bases on the peninsula under a 99 year lease with Ukraine agreed to between 1991 and 1994. They were able to deploy the so-called "little green men" from those bases and seize most of the peninsula in a matter of hours.

[fleekrushyt]

2:50 This wasnt anything that Yanukovych did. It was his predecessors who initiated it. He was the one who made Ukraine actually even MORE dependend on Russia for Energy resources.

[Cptnbond]

A bit skimpy in parts. For example, what choices were on the vote in Crimea? One: Independent Crimea, Two: Become part of Russian Federation. No other option given, like continue to be part of Ukraine. I guess it does not matter, since Russian would have made option two the winning option anyway.

[angrydoggy]

If Russia wants to keep its sphere of influence, they only need to make it an equally or better position to be in than joining the European side. As long as aligning with Russia means giving up sovereignty and signing on to a highly corrupt rather weak economy, people will want the better option.

[FreshPrincce]

Why are you showing war footage of the August war in Georgia from 2008?

[connormclernon]

I'll bet Yanukovich isn't too thrilled that his mansion got turned into a museum

[georgesaggers]

I went to the photo exhibition couple of weeks back.. well done IWM

[RichardBejtlich]

Great video, but the invasion started 24 Feb, not 22 Feb as stated at 11:24.

[ciweofp]

check this out, the british can't even remember they attacked russia in crimea 1850

[konackt]

You didn't mention who the snipers were!

[natmaren]

Important note. In Ukraine, Maidan 2014 is most often called not "Euromaidan", but "Revolution of Dignity".
Yes, Euromaidan was the beginning of the protests. However, the number of protesters was decreasing and, most likely, they would have stopped taking to the streets. But the government made a mistake. They decided to intimidate the people by brutally beating the protesters. It was this incident that gave Maidan a new, more powerful turn.
On the day after the students were beaten, the largest number of people took to the streets of Kyiv. They demanded to punish the officials responsible for the beating. This gave rise to a tough confrontation between the street and Yanukovych, who did not want to punish his entourage.
Further, the brutality of the police only increased, reaching the kidnappings and murders. Along with this, the demands of the protesters became more stringent,
turned into a demand for the impeachment of Yanukovych. Rejection of police brutality and its impunity gave the name to the protests - "Revolution of Dignity".

[ILoveBees]

Good summary of the events of the last decade, but does not answer the question in the title.

[totalplonker]

Vladimir Putin visits a primary school one day

And he gives a lecture about how great the government is, and how Russia is the best country in the world.
At the end of the lecture he invites people to ask questions and one kid stands up and says
“Hello my name is Sasha and I have two questions”
Putin: “go ahead”
Sasha: “Why did Russia sent troops to Ukraine and why did Russia annex Crimea? ”
At that moment the bell rang and everyone went to lunch.
At the end of lunch the Q&A continued and another kid stood up
“My name is boris and I have four questions”
Putin: “Yes?”
Boris: “Why did Russia sent troops to Ukraine, why did Russia annex Crimea, why was the bell 20 minutes early and where is Sasha?”

[ishkel]

The most propoganda-like and distorted history representation I ever heard.

[dariusz]

This video doesn't explain anything

[havareriksen]

A nice presentation, but it sounds like it supports russian claims that Krym had always been russian before Khrushchev gave it to Ukraina in 1954. In reality many cultures have lived on Crimea and dominated it, from the greeks, romans, kyivian rus, kossacks, mongols and tartars. Russia didn't arrive there before they annexed it in 1783, in violation with the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca. This brought on a war with the Ottomans that Russia won, and the Ottomans ceded all claims to Krym in the Treaty of Jassy in 1792. Then Russia lost possession of Krym during the Crimean War, lost it again during the Revolution, when Ukraina first established itself as a republic and Krym was for a brief time part of the republic, and yet again lost it during WWII. So russian possession of Krym has neither been that long and has been interrupted several times. There is a majority of russian speaking peoples and ethinc russians there, but this is a result of the russification of the region, mass deportings of the Tatar population and moving ethinc russians in to fill all public roles. The same has happened in almost every other country Russia has invaded and conquered, thus there are russian minorities in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova etc. today. Even the Holodomor, Stalin's planned hunger in Ukraina, served this purpose. As millions of ukrainians died of starvation, ethinc russians from other parts of Russia was moved into the depopulated lands to farm the land. Thus the strong ethnic russian prescence in Donetsk and Luhansk.

[maryanchabursky]

1:45 including in Crimea and Sevastopol.

[VajrahahaShunyata]

Not much mention of the Budapest memorandum treaty?
Why?

[jmccallion]

What a great series from the IWM this is! It is very similar to the style of Prof Mike Clarke, the resident Sky News military analyst: an ability to make politico/military terms easy to understand and an informative style that reinforces that understanding! Thank you and keep up the good work!

[liamwarren]

Walk past the IWM in Manchester everyday and im absolutely gutted i didnt go in to these portraits.