The Crimean annexation. Whether the referendum of Crimea is in compliance with the norms of international law

Abstract

In March 2014 Ukraine was crammed with a line of events, which eventually led to the annexation of Crimea into the territory of the Russian Federation. The Russian Federation refers to the right to secession as a legal basis, while the international community does not seem to accept this claim. Hence, the present article presents an overview and analysis of the legality of the Crimean annexation from the perspective of public international law. It serves to analyze specifically the legality of the Crimean referendum, the exercise of the right to remedial secession and self-determination of the “peoples” of Crimea. The article uses, as a major legal basis, the acknowledgement of the right to self-determination and unilateral secession by contemporary international law, as well as opinions of different experts in the field, who have extensively elaborated on the issue.