February 20, 2014 – The beginning of armed aggression, when the first cases of illegal border crossing by the Russian Armed Forces in the Kerch Strait area were recorded. Russia also used its military units stationed in Crimea to blockade Ukrainian military bases. This date was later preserved in Ukrainian legislation and appears on Russia’s Ministry of Defense medal “For the Return of Crimea”.

February 23, 2014 – The largest pro-Russian rally in Sevastopol, where first calls to reject Ukrainian authority were made, and the Russian businessman Oleksiy Chaly was declared the so-called “people’s mayor.” On the same day, a rally in Moscow called for dividing Ukraine to three parts and sending Russian “volunteers” to establish “Malorossiya” with its capital in Kharkiv.

On the morning of February 23, 2014, in Sevastopol, near the building of the former prison, where the head of the Government of the Crimean People’s Republic Noman Çelebicihan was tortured until death by the Bolsheviks on February 23, 1918, a mourning rally of Crimean Tatars was held to honor his memory. At the mourning rally, along with the Crimean Tatar national flags, the state flags of Ukraine flew. After the rally, the participants went to Simferopol, where at 1:00 p.m. a 15,000 rally began in memory of the political and statesman, one of the organizers of the first Kurultai of the Crimean Tatar people, Head of the Government of the Crimean People’s Republic Noman Çelebicihan (1885 – February 23, 1918) and against pro-Russian separatism.

February 24, 2014 – Russian Navy ships, which were guarding the sea area in the Sochi Olympics area, took on board units of Russian military personnel in Novorossiysk for seizing administrative buildings and block Ukrainian military units in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, military equipment, and headed for Sevastopol.

February 26, 2014 – rallies held outside the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea: one by pro-Russian organizations demanding autonomy within Russia (about 2 thousand participants), the other in defense of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, convened by the decision of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, in which about 12-15 thousand people, mainly Crimean Tatars and ethnic Ukrainians, took part. The session of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, at which, according to the plan of the Russian side, the secession from Ukraine had to be announced was prevented. |

February 27, 2014 – Russian military personnel without insignia seized the buildings of the Supreme Council of the ARC and the government of the ARC in Simferopol.

February 27, 2014 – The Supreme Council of the ARC, under the muzzles of machine guns of Russian servicemen from the 31st Airborne Assault Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces, “voted” for the so-called “referendum on the status of Crimea”, and appointed Sergey Aksyonov, a representative of the “Russian Unity” party, as the head of the government of Crimea. Units of the Russian Armed Forces were blocking Ukrainian military units and facilities on the peninsula. On the night of February 27-28, the airports of Simferopol and Belbek were blocked, as well as land entrances to Crimea from the Kherson region. On the same day, a combat readiness check of the troops of the Southern Military District of the Russian Federation took place, which involved up to 150,000 personnel, 90 aircraft, 120 helicopters, and 880 tanks.

March 1, 2014 – Russian President V. Putin sent a proposal to the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation to deploy Russian troops to Ukraine “to eliminate threats to the lives of citizens of the Russian Federation, compatriots, and personnel of the military contingent of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation deployed on the territory of Ukraine.” The Federation Council unanimously supported the proposal. On the same day, Russian strike units were deployed in the Rostov, Voronezh, Kursk, Belgorod, and Bryansk regions. A strike group was created in the Polissya, Slobozhansk, Donetsk, and Crimean operational directions, which was in full combat readiness for the invasion of Ukraine by the end of May 2014.

March 3, 2014 – Reshat Ametov went out to the Council of Ministers building in Simferopol with a lone picket against the occupation of Crimea by Russian troops. He was later abducted from the square by representatives of the “Crimean self-defense” and this was recorded by surveillance cameras. Reshat Ametov was not contacted again. He was found dead on March 15 in the village of Zemlyanichne, Bilohirsky district, 60 km from Simferopol. The man’s body bore numerous signs of torture, his head was tied with tape, his eyes were gouged out, and handcuffs lay next to him.

Early March 2014 – anti-war rallies and women’s demonstrations against the occupation were held daily in different parts of Crimea. Usually, demonstrations took place along the main transport routes and near Ukrainian military units blocked by the Russians.

Early March 2014 – Russian occupation units turned off the broadcast of Ukrainian television.

March 9, 2014 – A large pro-Ukrainian rally was held in Simferopol in honor of the 200th anniversary of Taras Shevchenko and against the illegal “referendum”. On the same day, representatives of the so-called “Crimean self-defense” detained several activists.

March 16, 2014 – The so-called referendum on the status of Crimea was held, which contradicted the Constitution of Ukraine and the fundamental norms of international law and was not recognized by the international community. The event, directed by Russia, on the decision of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people was completely boycotted by the Crimean Tatars and the pro-Ukrainian population of the peninsula. On March 14, 2014, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine declared the resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, according to which the “referendum” was held, unconstitutional.

March 18, 2014 – in Moscow, Russian President V. Putin, “Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Crimea” Serhiy Aksyonov, “Speaker of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Crimea” Volodymyr Konstantinov and “Chairman of the Coordination Council for the Organization of the Management of Life Support in Sevastopol” Olexiy Chaly signed the so-called “Treaty on the Admission of the Republic of Crimea to Russia”.

March 21, 2014 – Russian President V. Putin signed a decree on the ratification of this “treaty”.

March 25, 2014 – the last military unit flying the Ukrainian flag in Crimea, the Navy minesweeper “Cherkasy”, was captured. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol were completely occupied by the Russian Armed Forces.

Photo: RFE/RL