Crimean Federal District - this is the official name of the famous peninsula. He acquired it not so long ago, after the 2014 referendum. Until that moment, it was an autonomous republic within Ukraine. But, as you know, in mid-March 2014, serious changes occurred.
The events of the year before last
In 2014, many events took place. And the most significant was the return of Crimea to the Russian Federation. A referendum took place on March 16, at which residents of the peninsula voted, and on the 18th, it was officially announced that the Crimean Federal District had now joined Russia. The government signed all the papers regarding the adoption of an independent sovereign republic and gave it a different status.
Ukraine, of course, did not recognize the withdrawal of the peninsula from its composition. The overwhelming majority believes that this is not a voluntary decision of the residents of the republic, but the occupation of the territory of Russia. At first, the UN General Assembly also reacted negatively to this, but now, as you can see, many countries have a different opinion.
Further developments
On March 21 of the same year, the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin signed the Federal Constitutional Law, which described in detail everything related to the incident. It also says that from now on the peninsula is the Crimean Federal District. On the 20th of the day, the day before, the law was adopted by the State Duma, and then approved by the Federation Council. Together with him, the president approved the ratification of the treaty. At the same time, they signed a decree on the creation of such a territorial unit as the Crimean Federal District, in which Oleg Belaventsev became the authorized representative of Vladimir Vladimirovich.
Very soon, on April 2, Putin signed another decree. He said that the Crimean Federal District, a map of which is provided below in the article, is included in the Southern Military District. On April 11, the peninsula was included in the list of state entities.
About Sevastopol
So, the status of the Republic of Crimea is generally clear. But we must not forget about the glorious hero city of Sevastopol. Here is a slightly different story.
In 2014, on March 6, the Sevastopol City Council held an extraordinary session, at which it was decided: the city will become part of the Russian Federation. This was supported by the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (which the peninsula was at that time).
The next day there was news. They said that Sevastopol could be included in Russia as a city of federal significance. As everyone knows, there were two of them in the state at that time: St. Petersburg and Moscow.
March 21, it was announced that indeed, Sevastopol was recognized as such. And the list of subjects of the Russian Federation has increased by as much as two points. Separately included the peninsula and separately - the hero city. The 65th article of the Constitution of Russia was amended accordingly, and on April 11, the new text of this document was officially published.
Two points of view
Talking about the famous Sevastopol, one can not touch upon another interesting topic. And it concerns his status, or rather, how he is seen by two different states. It’s worth starting with Russia. Officially, the state stated that in accordance with the will expressed by the people and how they voted, an appropriate decision was made. According to him, the state includes the hero city of Sevastopol and the Crimean Federal District. The Russian Federation has every right to assert this on all grounds. And this is true, but Ukraine does not think so.
Representatives of this state, considering it one, argue that the Crimea with Sevastopol is an integral part of sovereign Ukraine. And accordingly, only the laws of Ukraine should apply to these subjects (according to their logic). Well, that sounds at least strange, since the vast majority of the inhabitants of the peninsula are Russians, with Russian passports, with rubles in their wallet and with tricolors on buildings. But the Ukrainian representatives were at a loss. Because of their own attitude, they lost part of the state. That's just the inhabitants of the republic itself are happy with things. In the consolation Ukraine can only assure that the Crimea will return to their composition.
New constitution
So, talking about the Crimean Federal District of Russia, one cannot but touch upon the topic of the changes that occurred on the peninsula. And it’s worth starting with the most important thing, with the Constitution. On April 11, 2014, an extraordinary meeting of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea took place. And it approved the Constitution. The Crimean document consists of ten chapters and 95 different articles. Its main provisions are identical to those prescribed in the basic law of the Russian Federation.
Content of the Constitution
According to the new document, the Republic of Kazakhstan is a democratic legal state, which is part of Russia and its equal subject. The source of power in the Republic of Kazakhstan is the people. There are three official languages on the peninsula: Russian, Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar. But 99% of the population speak Russian. Almost no one speaks Ukrainian, and only a small part speaks Crimean Tatar.
The highest official is the head of the republic, he is elected by deputies of the State Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan for five years. An elected person can hold this position for no more than two terms in a row. Since October 9, 2014, the head of the Crimea is Sergey Aksenov.
On December 8 of the same year, Dmitry Kozak, who is the deputy prime minister of the Russian Federation, said that the republic was already ready to enter the Russian government.
Events around the current situation
The Crimean Federal District includes many cities. Anyway, the peninsula itself is not small in size. Having lost it, Ukraine did not want to “let go” of Crimea to Russia (despite the fact that it had already been included in the structure).
After a year and a half, Lenur Islyamov, Refat Chubarov and Mustafa Dzhemilev, Crimean Tatar political figures who positioned themselves as patriots of Ukraine, organized a blockade of the border with Crimea. The other side stated that they intended to release Ukrainian political prisoners. This happened a year and a half after the republic was given a new status.
It is worth recalling that already at that time 95% of residents received Russian passports, renounced Ukrainian citizenship. Rubles were introduced, the delivery of products and other important goods from the mainland of the Russian Federation was established, Russian shops and retail chains were opened, and at that time the bridge across the Kerch Strait had already taken on a clear outline.
But Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar activists from this state did not lose hope of returning Crimea. In November, power line pylons that supplied electricity to the peninsula were blown up. As soon as possible, a part of the energy bridge from Kerch to the mainland of the Russian Federation was laid, Crimea became independent from Ukraine in this regard.
Conclusion
Crimea is, as the inhabitants of the peninsula say, representatives of the government, authorities and people, part of Russia forever. Indeed, tremendous work has been done to return the republic to the Federation, but most importantly, it was possible to implement it. And now many beautiful cities, such as Sevastopol, Yalta, Kerch, Feodosia, Yevpatoriya, Alushta, Koktebel, are an integral part of Russia. So far, a transitional period is in force in the republic.