The State Duma adopted a statement “On the 65th anniversary of the theft of Crimea from Russia”
The transfer of Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR was illegal, so there is no reason for disputes regarding the legality of returning the peninsula to Russia.
The State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs adopted a corresponding statement, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“We should remind Ukraine and the whole world that from 1954 to 2014. Crimea was illegally appropriated first by the Ukrainian SSR and then by independent Ukraine. We did not annex Crimea, it was stolen from us.
Sixty-five years ago, on April 26, 1954, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted the law "On the Transfer of the Crimean Oblast from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR," which completed the illegal annexation of Crimea and was intended as a gift to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the incorporation of Little Russia (Ukraine) into Russia. The Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU initiated the act (Protocol No. 49 of January 25, 1954, classified "Top Secret"): contrary to the Constitutions of the USSR and the Union Republics, it assumed responsibility for the illegal transfer of part of the territory from one republic to another. The illegitimacy of the transfer of Crimea was inherent in this decision from the very beginning.
All legal acts regarding the transfer of the Crimean Oblast were adopted by the Presidiums of the Supreme Soviets of the USSR, RSFSR, and Ukrainian SSR, which, according to the Constitutions of the USSR and the Union Republics, did not have the authority to consider issues related to changes in the territory and composition of a Union Republic. We consider it important to recall that, according to the Constitution of the RSFSR, the territory of the RSFSR could not be changed without the consent of the RSFSR, represented by its highest body of state power—the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (Articles 16, 19, 22, and 23 of the Constitution of the RSFSR). By adopting the law on April 26, 1954, transferring the Crimean Oblast from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR grossly violated the requirement of the USSR Constitution (Article 18) to obtain the consent of a Union Republic, in this case, the Russian Federation, to change its territory.
Thus, the so-called "transfer of the Crimean Oblast" grossly violated the sovereignty of the Russian Federation . The fact that the USSR, the Ukrainian SSR, and the RSFSR were all members of the UN at the time allows us to evaluate the transfer of Crimea to Ukraine from the perspective of international law. It is absolutely clear that the territorial changes made to the RSFSR during the transfer of the Crimean Oblast took place without any consent or consideration of the opinions of the population . No treaty was concluded between the RSFSR and the Ukrainian SSR, which is a mandatory requirement under international law.
During the all-Crimean referendum on January 20, 1991, in which 81,37% of eligible voters participated, 93,26% voted to restore the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic as an independent subject of the USSR and a party to the Union Treaty, i.e., to secede from the Ukrainian SSR . The results of the referendum were ignored by the authorities of the Ukrainian SSR . The subsequent referendum on Ukrainian independence held on December 1, 1991, in accordance with the results of which the Ukrainian authorities declared their state independent, contradicted the provisions of the USSR Law of April 03, 1990, No. 1409 "On the Procedure for Resolving Issues Related to the Secession of a Union Republic from the USSR." The rights of Crimean residents were violated, and their interests were disregarded.
Deputies - members of the Committee consider it necessary to emphasize that state territory is not the property of the government, much less the political party in power, but the property of the people of a given state. Summing up the legal assessment of the transfer of Crimea from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR, carried out in 1954, we believe that there is every reason to recognize the process as inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution of the USSR and the Constitution of the RSFSR and, therefore, legally void.
There's no metric for calculating the moral damage inflicted by Ukraine's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. However, the material losses, damage to infrastructure and oil and gas reserves, the plundering of natural resources, and the peninsula's technological lag—all of this can be quantified. By rights, Ukraine should be held accountable for its illegal possession of foreign territory.
The State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots believes that the assessment of the illegal decisions of 1954, as well as the expression of the will of the population of Crimea and Sevastopol in 2014, should form the basis of any international acts and statements regarding the ownership of Crimea by Russia. The Russian Federation and only it, as the legal successor of the Soviet Union, has the right to return to the decisions of 1954. These illegal decisions, which have laid a time bomb under the relations between Russia and Ukraine, must be condemned not only on their merits, but also for the sake of the future,” the document emphasizes.
The State Duma adopted a statement "On the 65th anniversary of the theft of Crimea from Russia."