СУСПІЛЬНО-ПОЛІТИЧНА ОБСТАНОВКА В КРИМУ НА ПОЧАТКУ РОСІЙСЬКОЇ АГРЕСІЇ В 2014 РОЦІ

Abstract

The article analyzes the socio-political situation in Crimea in 2014 at the beginning of the Russian armed aggression. The relevance of the research topic is due to the need to study the methods of hybrid warfare used by the Russian aggressor against Ukraine. At present, there is no doubt in modern Ukrainian society that the seizure of Crimea was another aggressive act of the Russian Federation on the way to unleashing an insidious war aimed at eliminating Ukrainian statehood. In early 2014, Russian special services organized illegal anti-Ukrainian protests in Crimea, supported by local collaborators. Pro-Russian sections of the Ukrainian local population, with the support of the Russian military and special services, seized administrative buildings of local authorities, blocked Ukrainian military units and obstructed the work of law enforcement agencies. The leading role in those destabilizing actions belonged to Russian curators, and local collaborators did not deny their secondary role. With the assistance of the Russian special services, local collaborators managed to hold an illegal so-called «referendum» on the separation of Crimea from Ukraine, which was a political method to legalize actions to destroy Ukrainian statehood in the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. All of the above took place in the context of a complete loss of control over the socio-political situation by local authorities and law enforcement agencies and complicated involvement of Ukrainian military forces. Despite Ukraine’s efforts to stabilize the situation through political means, the Russian Federation did not take appropriate measures and continued to act as a destabilizing factor in Crimea. The subsequent events of 2014 demonstrated that the annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea led to an escalation of social tension in the southeastern regions of Ukraine, which subsequently led to an open armed conflict in Donbas.