Skip to main content
The ‘annexation’ of Crimea: the facts
With the current heightened levels of anti-Russian sentiment and the return of the cold war mindset, it is important to understand the history of this region and why it sees itself as Russian, writes KATE CLARK
A convoy of Russian armored vehicles moves along a highway in Crimea, Tuesday, January 18, 2022

AT ABOUT the same time as the British Empire laid claim to the Falkland Islands, the Russian Empire claimed Crimea. It was the late 1770s and the time of empires, when a fleet of ships could land on a place and declare it henceforth their territory.

The Falkland Islands, which the Spanish had claimed earlier and named Las Malvinas, are nearly 8,000 miles from London, off the east coast of Argentina. Crimea is nearly 800 miles from Moscow and only a few miles from the border with mainland Russia.

The Crimean peninsula, which had previously been part of the Ottoman Empire, was annexed by the Russian Empire on April 19 1783, during the reign of Catherine the Great.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
oak larch
Books / 21 May 2026
21 May 2026

TOMASZ PIERSCIONEK is intrigued by a the changing significance of its vast areas of forest to Russia’s history

BROAD PLURALIST APPROACH: Adopted by nearly all the left parties in Europe including France Insoumise / Pic: France Insoumise/flickr/CC
Features / 25 April 2026
25 April 2026

JOHN REES replies to Claudia Webbe

A new epoch v ‘the main stronghold of modern colonialism’
Features / 23 September 2025
23 September 2025

In a speech to the 12th Xiangshan Forum in Beijing, SEVIM DAGDELEN warns of a growing historical revisionism to whitewash Germany and Japan’s role in WWII as part of a return to a cold war strategy from the West — but multipolarity will win out

A resident looks at his destroyed home following Russian air strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, August 30, 2025
Opinion / 4 September 2025
4 September 2025

While 69 per cent of Ukrainians want negotiated peace, Western leaders are cynically prolonging the war for their own strategic and economic goals, to the immense detriment of Ukraine and Europe, write BOB ORAM and MAGGIE SIMPSON