– Vladimir Putin will never give it up – Dagsavisen

Ukraine continues to attack targets on the annexed peninsula. But Russia’s president is unlikely to be intimidated into giving it back.

– Crimea is the part of Ukraine that almost all Russians believe belongs to Russia, regardless of whether they like or dislike Vladimir Putin, says Russia expert Mark Galeotti to Dagsavisen.

Under the pretext of a military exercise, Putin sent special forces to Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in March 2014, and soon after, government offices and the local parliament were taken over by soldiers without uniform. A pro-Russian politician was installed as “prime minister”. In the wake of the annexation, the Russians also took control of several areas in eastern Ukraine.

A highly contested referendum on 16 March 2014 ended with a majority in favor of reunification with Russia, and on 18 March the Putin regime declared Crimea a part of Russia. Norway was one of many countries that condemned this, citing that it was in violation of international law, according to NTB.

Eight years later, Russia and Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

A Ukrainian population study from 2001 showed that 58 percent of the population was ethnic Russian, 24 percent ethnic Ukrainian, and 12 percent Muslim Crimean Tatars.

Vladimir Putin’s legacy

Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have a stated goal of recapturing Crimea. Putin, on the other hand, has no plans to let that happen. And Mark Galeotti’s point at the beginning, that most Russians see Crimea as Russian, is an important reason for that.

– It will be very, very difficult for Putin to give up Crimea in the future. Then something very special must have happened on the battlefield. Remember that this is a man who thinks about his political and historical legacy, says Galeotti.

– In practice, Putin will surrender everything but Crimea, in my view, adds the Russia expert.

Also read: Klitschko on Putin’s attack: – This is terror, not war

Crimea under attack by Ukrainian forces

Author, political scientist and social debater Sylo Taraku has previously spoken about Crimea’s importance to Dagsavisen. He works in Tankesmien Agenda and came out with the book in autumn The Continent of War – Europe after the Cold War. Taraku spoke about the situation on the peninsula after the Russian naval base in Sevastopol was attacked by Ukraine in October.

– Russia’s and Vladimir Putin’s nightmare has been that Crimea would be attacked. That Sevastopol would be attacked. Now Crimea and Sevastopol are being hit by Ukrainian rockets, or Western rockets that Ukraine uses, Taraku said then.

And so there are still a number of reports about Ukrainian attacks against Russia in Crimea.

Last weekend, Dmytro Pletenschuk in the Ukrainian navy told the Liga news website that Ukraine was behind the attack that hit the Russian salvage vessel Kommuna in the port city of Sevastopol in Crimea, writes NTB.

– Crimea has become vulnerable as a military pawn. It is obvious, comments Mark Galeotti.

Also read: Several sound the alarm about Putin’s plans. Stubb has a different approach

– Unsafe for Russia

Ukrainian military authorities even claim to have destroyed or sunk over two dozen Russian warships since the war began in February 2022. Last week, a military patrol boat should have been sunk, in addition to the attack on Kommuna, according to NTB.

– The Russian naval base in Sevastopol is still important, but Ukraine has for some time been successful with its operations in the Black Sea, which means that the Sevastopol base is now very unsafe for Russia, says professor and Russia expert Pål Kolstø at the University of Oslo (UiO ) previously stated to Dagsavisen.

The Russian military leadership has had to move ships from Sevastopol to Novorossiysk further north and to Adjara, one of two autonomous sub-republics in Georgia, explained Kolstø, who has stated that the peninsula is somewhat less important from a military strategic point of view than before.

– But in terms of identity, the situation is different. Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin have said that Crimea has a special place in Russian history and in Orthodoxy, the professor said.

Ever since the 18th century, the Russian Black Sea Fleet had been based in Sevastopol in the Crimea. The 26,000 square kilometer peninsula on the north coast of the Black Sea was first occupied by the Russians in 1771, under Catherine the Great.

Also read: The NATO summit’s hint about Ukraine: – A question of when, not if

Vladimir the Great

In 1954, the peninsula was formally transferred from the Soviet Union to the then Soviet Republic of Ukraine. The peninsula remained part of Ukrainian territory after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, before Putin’s takeover in 2014.

Pål Kolstø has also pointed out how Putin specifically sees Kyiv’s former grand duke, Vladimir the Great, as part of the annexation of Crimea and what Putin points to as Russian identity there.

– Vladimir the Great (956–1015), who introduced Orthodox Christianity in Russia, was himself converted to Christianity in the Crimea. It is then linked to the Christianization of the Kingdom of Rus, which is the old common name for Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. So this is about more than just strategy, Kolstø told Dagsavisen.

Vladimir the Great was the Kyiv Empire’s greatest statesman. There are statues of him both in Kyiv and Moscow, but the latter was erected by Putin only after the annexation of Crimea, according to NTB.

Also read: General: – Now we have three choices. Only one of them can stop Putin

Law professor came out hard against Putin’s “madness”

In March, Kremlin and Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that the annexation of Crimea ten years ago was “fully legal”.

– The Crimean peninsula is an inseparable part of the Russian Federation, both de jure and de facto. The declaration of Crimea’s independence and inclusion in the Russian Federation was in full accordance with international law, Peskov said.

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De jure is Latin and means “in accordance with the law”, “judicial” or “according to the law”. De facto means “actually”, “in deed” or “in reality”. De facto is used both in international law and in everyday speech. (Large Norwegian encyclopedia)

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The move made Ukrainian-Estonian law professor Evhen Tsybulenko furious.

– It is hardly worth commenting on such madness and propaganda on the part of Russia. A number of resolutions from, among others, the UN, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) have explained the situation from the perspective of international law, Tsybulenko pointed out to Dagsavisen.

He also commented on the claims about Crimea and Russian identity.

– The claim that Crimea is historically Russian territory is a Kremlin-created myth. Unfortunately, this myth has gained traction in several places, including in the West. But throughout history, the Crimean peninsula has been inhabited by several different civilizations, including Greeks, Romans and the native Crimean Tatars. The peninsula was not even part of what would become Russia in the 18th century, the professor said.

Also read: Lavrov’s jab at the West: – You don’t understand

PACE kicked out the Russians

In 2020, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling on Russia to immediately end its “temporary occupation” of the Crimean peninsula. The resolution is not binding, but has political significance, NTB wrote at the time.

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International law are legal rules that apply to the relationship between states, but also between states and international institutions, such as the UN and the EU and to a certain extent also individuals. The UN is both an arena where international law is made, and an actor that ensures that international law is followed. (United Nations)

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In 2017, the UN determined that Russia had violated international law during its conduct on the Crimean peninsula. In a report, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights wrote that Russia is “imposing Russian citizenship on people”, and that “hundreds of prisoners have been transferred to prisons on Russian territory on the mainland”. Russia has denied the accusations.

In 2022, Russia was formally excluded from the Council of Europe due to the invasion and war in Ukraine. PACE unanimously voted to expel Russia. Afterwards, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the Council of Europe “a Russophobic instrument”, according to NTB.

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Also read: German defense halt: – Then Russia can attack NATO

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Facts about the war in Ukraine

• Russia and President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine with large forces on February 24, 2022.
• Russian forces and Russian-backed separatists previously controlled the Crimean peninsula and parts of the Ukrainian counties of Donetsk and Luhansk.
• Since the invasion, Russian forces have taken control of even more areas in eastern and southern Ukraine. The Russian-occupied areas now make up around 18 percent of the country.
• The fronts in the war have largely been deadlocked since autumn 2022.
• Ukraine’s and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s stated goal is to recapture all Russian-occupied territories, including Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
• Western countries support Ukraine with large amounts of weapons and military equipment.
• Neither Ukraine nor Russia state how many soldiers they lose on the battlefield. It is estimated that up to 500,000 soldiers have been killed and wounded in the war, and the majority of these are said to be Russian.
• The UN has registered over 10,000 civilians killed in Ukraine, but the real number is probably much higher.
• 6.5 million Ukrainians have fled the country since the invasion, and another 3.7 million are internally displaced.

(Sources: UN, The New York Times, NTB)

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