The Legal Aspects of Crimea’s Independence Referendum of 2014 With the Subsequent Annexation of the Peninsula by Russia.

Abstract

This thesis examines Crimea’s 2014 unilateral declaration of independence and subsequent absorption by Russia. It examines the region’s volatile history and attempts to present a balanced view of the positions of the main actors involved: Crimeans, Ukraine, Russia, Crimea’s Tatar minority, and the international community. It presents a host of legal opinions on the issue, trying to answer whether Russia’s annexation of the peninsula can be considered legal under international law.

Virtually all Western (or at least English-speaking) analysts declare the 2014 referendum illegal under international law, even though most of them also admit that there is no legal precedent to support or overturn such a verdict. This admission brings us to the ultimate answer – without a clear legal precedent in international law, Crimea’s independence from Ukraine was no more or no less legal than Ukraine’s own independence from the Soviet Union twenty-three years prior.