Annexation of Crimea: how it all began

Six years ago the Ukrainian parliament broke the law and voted for the ratification of the so-called Kharkiv accords, signed by the then presidents of Ukraine and Russia, Viktor Yanukovych and Dmitry Medvedev. Under these accords, which in fact became another step towards the future annexation of Ukrainian territory, Russia’s lease on the naval bases in Crimea was prolonged till 2042.

“At that point the Party of Regions lacked the necessary votes, and they bribed MPs to get hold of their voting cards. They tried to use the ‘orange’ MPs’ working stations,” shares Oles Donii, MP of the 6th and 7th convocations in his commentary to The Day. “The violence which was then used in parliament showed that the Party of Regions was in transition from competition to authoritarianism. It was not merely dependence on the RF, but also the employment of its methods. The Kharkiv accords was just the tip of an iceberg, for there were other, clandestine agreements, and not only between Yanukovych and Putin, but also between business groups. Today these groups are concentrated around the so-called Opposition Bloc.

“It is quite obvious that Putin’s interest was not only to prolong the lease on the Black Sea naval bases. The Russian Federation was preparing for the subsequent scenarios. According to the newly appointed chief of Ukraine’s Navy, Ihor Voronchenko, with whom I spoke in Crimea on March 9, 2014, months ahead of Maidan he had warned of the increased supplies of fuel for the Black Sea Fleet and six divisions, transferred from Central Russia to the North Caucasus. This was the evidence that the Kremlin was ready for radical power scenarios. Yanukovych was one of the direct agents of influence. Yet we must realize that there still are a lot of agents of influence remaining in Ukraine, and they are not only confined to the Opposition Bloc. Putin’s current plan is to maximally debilitate Ukraine and push it into chaos.”