Nine years ago, on March 18, 2014, Vladimir Putin signed the agreement for the annexation of Crimea to Russia. The Ukrainian peninsula was illegally annexed by Moscow after a sham referendum. Long kept in the background, the question of the status of Crimea has resurfaced thanks to the large-scale Russian offensive. kyiv’s stated desire to reconquer the peninsula puts its Western allies in trouble.
” By taking back Crimea, we will restore peace. It is our land. Our people. Our history Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Twitter last month. The Ukrainian president regularly announces that his country will regain control of the peninsula annexed nine years ago by Russia. Since the Russian withdrawal from Kherson and the right bank of the Dnieper, this prospect seems less inaccessible than at the start of the full-scale invasion.
9 years ago, Russian aggression began in Crimea. By returning Crimea, we will restore peace.
This is our land. Our people. Our history. We will return the Ukrainian flag to every corner of Ukraine.
Qırım Serbest olacaq!
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— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 26, 2023
But if the Western chancelleries have always affirmed publicly that Crimea was part of Ukraine, the latter seemed to constitute, for them, a special case.
Many officials believe, without publicly asserting it, that Ukraine will be unable to regain all of its territory by force. In Paris, as in London or Berlin, it is stressed that the West can only help support the war effort for a certain time.
But there is also the fear of a more violent Russian reaction or of theuse of nuclear weaponsCrimea having a very important symbolic and political value in the eyes of Vladimir Poutine. However, if Ukraine’s supporters do not actively encourage it to take back Crimea, there is no question of making a public case for it. Officially, kyiv sets the pace.
► To read also: Crimea, an old quarrel between Russia and Ukraine