Twelve years of occupation of Crimea: how the annexation of the peninsula began in 2014

Twelve years ago, Russia began its occupation of Crimea, which was the first stage of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The first days of February 2014 were marked by attempts to forcibly establish control, arson attacks, propaganda, and attempts to legitimize the seizure of the peninsula.

The course of those events was described by Krym.realii in a special series "Crimea: Diary of Occupation".

According to the available data, on February 20, 2014, the President of the Russian Federation ordered the beginning of the operation to seize Crimea. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine defined this date as the official beginning of the temporary occupation of the peninsula (Law No. 685-VIII of September 15, 2015). It is also indicated on the Russian medal "For the Return of Crimea", which was awarded to the military personnel who participated in the operation.

On the same day, snipers opened fire on Euromaidan activists on Instytutska Street in Kyiv. In the evening, the parliament adopted a statement condemning the actions of law enforcement officers that led to the deaths. With the mediation of European ministers and a representative of Russia, negotiations began between the authorities and protesters to end the confrontation and hold early presidential elections.

At night in Simferopol, unknown persons tried to set fire to the office of the Euromaidan-Crimea civic movement. In the morning, one of the peninsula's most widely circulated newspapers, Krymskaya Pravda, published an article harshly criticizing the protesters in Kyiv. The article referred to alleged violence against security forces and civilians, and emphasized the inaction of the central government led by Viktor Yanukovych.

In the middle of the day, the chairman of the Supreme Council of Crimea, Vladimir Konstantinov, while in Moscow, said that, in his opinion, Ukraine was actually split, and that holding elections in such conditions was problematic. He also allowed for the possibility of revising the 1954 decision to transfer Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR and emphasized that the Crimean parliament would recognize only those decisions it deemed necessary.

Meanwhile, a plane from Kyiv arrived in Simferopol with wounded security forces - according to official information, there were 52 of them.

Around 5 p.m., the head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Refat Chubarov, said that the Crimean Tatars would not allow such initiatives to be implemented. He emphasized that Crimea is a part of Ukraine, and he considered calls for the separation of the peninsula in the context of the crisis as dangerous and likely to provoke external interference.

At approximately 18:00, the then Prime Minister of Crimea , Anatoliy Mohyliov, stated that the peninsula was an integral part of Ukraine. According to him, the Crimean authorities' primary task should be to ensure the safety of residents in the face of acute public confrontation, not to make loud political statements.

Activists of the Euromaidan-Crimea movement called on the SBU to respond to statements by Crimean MPs about the possible secession of the autonomy. They warned that voting for such decisions could have criminal consequences under Articles 110 and 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Late in the evening, there was information about the preparation of an extraordinary meeting of the Crimean parliament - the presidium of the Supreme Council of the ARC was to be convened in the morning.

On February 20, the first cases of violations of the procedure for crossing the state border of Ukraine by units of the Russian armed forces in Crimea were also recorded. These events marked the beginning of the Russian occupation of the peninsula, which later escalated into a full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war.

Currently, the occupiers are trying to bypass Ukraine and convince the United States to recognize Crimea as Russian territory. This was stated by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting with media representatives on February 7, 2026. The head of state explained that Moscow deliberately addresses these signals directly to Washington, as it realizes that it is impossible to obtain such consent from Kyiv.

Анна Бальчінос