Crimeas and Misdemeanors After Slipping from the Headlines

“Before Russia defeated the Ottoman Empire in the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774, the [Crimean] Khanate, populated largely by Crimean Tatars, had been part of the Ottoman Empire. In the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, which was the result of that war, the Ottoman Empire was forced to cede sovereignty over the Khanate, and allow it to become an independent state under Russian influence. Tatars in Crimea had no desire for independence and held a strong emotional attachment to the Ottoman Empire. Within two months of the signing of the treaty, the government of the Khanate sent envoys to the Ottomans, asking them to ‘destroy the conditions of independence.’ The envoys said that as Russian troops remained stationed in Crimea at Yeni-Kale and Kerch, the Khanate could not be considered independent. Nevertheless, the Ottomans ignored this request, not wishing to violate the agreement with Russia. In the disorder that followed the Turkish defeat, Tatar leader Devlet Giray refused to accept the treaty at the time of its signing.” Wikipedia.

 

The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca allowed Russians to migrate and settle in Crimea, which was little more than a Russian puppet, and the seeming independence led to a local revolt against the anointed government that began in 1777.  In 1783, Russia shrugged its shoulders and mounted a landgrab, sensing weakness in the Ottomans who controlled the Peninsula, and simply annexed Crimea. After years of conflict and strife, the local Tatars were too burnt out to resist. Catherine the Great’s order was carried out swiftly.

“Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Crimea became an autonomous republic within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in the USSR. During World War II, Crimea was downgraded to the Crimean Oblast after its entire indigenous population, the Crimean Tatars, were deported to Central Asia, an act recognized as a genocide. In 1954, it was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR from the Russian SFSR. 

“With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine was formed as an independent state in 1991 and most of the peninsula was reorganized as the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, while the city of Sevastopol retained its special status within Ukraine. The 1997 Partition Treaty on the Status and Conditions of the Black Sea Fleet partitioned the former Soviet Black Sea Fleet and allowed Russia to continue basing its fleet in Crimea: both the Ukrainian Naval Forces and Russian's Black Sea Fleet were to be headquartered in Sevastopol. Ukraine extended Russia's lease of the naval facilities under the 2010 Kharkiv Pact in exchange for further discounted natural gas.

“In March 2014, following the Ukrainian revolution and subsequent takeover of the territory by pro-Russian separatists and Russian Armed Forces, a Crimea-only referendum, deemed unconstitutional by the Ukrainian Constitutional Court, was held on whether to leave Ukraine and join Russia; the official result was that a large majority of Crimeans wished to join with Russia. Russia then incorporated the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol as federal subjects of Russia. While Russia and some other UN member states recognize Crimea as part of the Russian Federation, Ukraine continues to claim Crimea as an integral part of its territory, supported by most foreign governments and non-binding United Nations General Assembly Resolution 68/262.” Wikipedia. Russia breached her treaties with Ukraine in implementing that takeover. Locals who voted for the Russian move believed a stagnant economy would improve under Russia. Not exactly what happened.

What followed were a litany of economic (banking and trading) sanctions and travel restrictions imposed on Russia by the United States and the European Union, to name a few of the nations that supported the U.N. resolution with active responses. We seem to have forgotten this as the fundamental genesis of U.S. sanctions against Russia, thinking that somehow Russia’s support for the Assad regime is the real basis for sanctions against brutal Moscow. 

However, it is precisely the totality of these rolling sanctions against Russia, strongly supported by our own Congress, that constitutes one of the primary bases for the Robert Mueller investigation of the Trump administration. Donald Trump’s craving for a Trump Tower in lucrative Moscow, evidenced by a 2015 letter signed by Trump himself (his signature can be seen in my January 13^th blog, Mattis is Gone, More Treaties are Dying) suggests that the then-presidential-candidate’s greed is the real motivation for Trump’s bromance with Russian strongman, Vladimir Putin. 

“The plan [for a Moscow Trump Tower] was dazzling: a glass skyscraper that would stretch higher than any other building in Europe, offering ultra-luxury residences and hotel rooms and bearing a famous name. Trump Tower Moscow, conceived as a partnership between Donald Trump’s company and a Russian real estate developer, looked likely to yield profits in excess of $300 million…

“On Monday [1/22], his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said ‘the proposal was in the earliest stage,’ and he went on to tell the New Yorker that ‘no plans were ever made. There were no drafts. Nothing in the file.’… However, hundreds of pages of business documents, emails, text messages, and architectural plans, obtained by BuzzFeed News over a year of reporting, tell a very different story. Trump Tower Moscow was a richly imagined vision of upscale splendor on the banks of the Moscow River.” BuzzFeed, January 22^nd. Building a Trump monolith on some of the most valuable land in the Russian capital clearly required a nod from the Russian leader. The same dictator Putin who exercises his iron hand in Crimea rather clearly.

Few Crimeans are willing to accept attribution for the sea of criticism against Russia these days. It not good for their health. When Russian warships seized three Ukrainian naval vessels attempting to cross into the Sea of Azov in November, Putin doubled down against Western sanctions and made his military threats in Eastern Ukraine that much more menacing. Putin always likes a show of strength to let people know what happens when they go against his edicts.

Like Trump in his base-directed platform, Putin promised locals who supported his separatist takeover of Crimea a much better life. But the sanctions and Russia’s powerfully repressive policies have created a very different reality. While there have been some infrastructure upgrades, the only major investor in Crimea has been the Russia government. Prices are soaring, goods are hard to procure, international tourism has all-but-vaporized (a few Russians make the trip, and when they do, are famous for not spending money), international travel almost always requires passing through Moscow, and trade/banking restrictions make doing business there exceptionally difficult.

International travel now also requires Crimeans to get visas, but with almost no foreign consulates in Crimea because of the sanctions (and the refusal of many nations to recognize Russia’s annexation), locals have to travel to Moscow just to apply for visas. Under the old Ukrainian rule, locals could travel to Europe without a visa at all. Today, crossing the border between Ukraine and Russia is quite complex. “Before the Kremlin annexed the Crimean peninsula in March 2014, entering was as easy as crossing a state line. Today, it’s an arduous journey across a 2.7-mile border strip that can take half a day.

“Although few countries and no major international organizations recognize Crimea as part of Russia, Ukraine has had to bow to the superior power of its neighbor, which last year completed a 37-mile fence topped with barbed wire and motion sensors that runs the length of the border. Almost five years after the annexation, the consequences of Russia’s land grab still reverberate in unsettling and often absurd ways.

“Ukrainians must pass through their own government’s checkpoint to enter Crimea, even though most of the world considers it to be Ukrainian territory. They then carry bags and children on foot across a quarter-mile of no man’s land. A shuttle bus plies the rest of the potholed road to the Russian checkpoint for 30 cents. There’s another wait at Russian passport control.

“Ukraine has cut off cargo and public transportation at the border. Cars with Ukrainian license plates can enter, but not those with Russian plates. Ukrainian cellphone service doesn’t work at the border…

“Unfinished construction sites dot the landscape between the massive, Soviet-era tourist hotels that dominate the cliffs and shoreline of Yalta and other major resort towns. After annexation, many new hotel construction projects stopped because investors disappeared.” Los Angeles Times, January 28^th. There are rumors, however, that there soon may be direct flights from Crimea to Damascus, Syria.

We tend to forget events that alter people’s lives in the most significant ways… once they slip from our headlines. But every once and a while, it makes sense to look at the results. Particularly since this Russian takeover has had such powerful repercussions for the investigations of Donald Trump and associates that still dominate our headlines.

            I’m Peter Dekom, and while forgetting inconvenient truths is simple for many, reviewing essential realities from our recent past should never be forgotten.