Crimean anti-NATO protests of 2006
Encyclopedia
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
(Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
) against United States military maneuvers during NATO's Sea Breeze 2006 military exercise
Military exercise
A military exercise is the employment of military resources in training for military operations, either exploring the effects of warfare or testing strategies without actual combat...
and in order to prevent Ukraine's possible bid
NATO-Ukrainian relations
The Ukraine and North Atlantic Treaty Organization relations started in 1995. Ukraine is as of January 2008 a candidate to join the NATO Membership Action Plan . On December 3, 2008 NATO decided it will work out an Annual National Programme of providing assistance to Ukraine to implement reforms...
to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Background
Crimea is an autonomous republicAutonomous republic
An autonomous republic is a type of administrative division similar to a province. A significant number of autonomous republics can be found within the successor states of the Soviet Union, but the majority are located within Russia. Many of these republics were established during the Soviet...
of Ukraine. According to the 2001 Ukrainian Census
Ukrainian Census (2001)
The first Ukrainian Census was carried out by State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on 5 December 2001, twelve years after the last Soviet Union census in 1989....
58.5% of its population is ethnic-Russian. Crimea was transferred from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR
Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...
in 1954 by Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
. It is planned that Russia's Black Sea Fleet
Black Sea Fleet
The Black Sea Fleet is a large operational-strategic sub-unit of the Russian Navy, operating in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea since the late 18th century. It is based in various harbors of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov....
will be based in Sevastopol
Sevastopol
Sevastopol is a city on rights of administrative division of Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast of the Crimea peninsula. It has a population of 342,451 . Sevastopol is the second largest port in Ukraine, after the Port of Odessa....
Crimea until 2042. Surveys indicate that currently the majority of Ukrainians oppose joining NATO.
In June 2006 Russia's State Duma
State Duma
The State Duma , common abbreviation: Госду́ма ) in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma headquarters is located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to...
voted 435 to 0 to warn Ukraine that its entry to NATO would lead to "very negative consequences for the whole complex of mutual relations between our two brother nations".
Events
In June 2006, 200 U.S. Marine Corps reservists arrived to the CrimeaCrimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
n city of Feodosiya to take part in the Sea Breeze 2006 Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
-NATO military exercise
Military exercise
A military exercise is the employment of military resources in training for military operations, either exploring the effects of warfare or testing strategies without actual combat...
involving troops from sixteen countries. However, the exercise, which have been held annually for several years, did not take place, as it was not approved by the Ukrainian parliament in part due to delays in forming a government after the parliamentary election of March 2006
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2006
The Ukrainian parliamentary election took place on March 26, 2006. Election campaigning officially began on July 7, 2005. Between November 26 and December 31, 2005 party lists of candidates were formed....
. Their aim was to "simulate the defence of a peninsula caught between a totalitarian state and a democratic one." "Totalitarian state" may be considered an allusion to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
The U.S. marines were greeted by violent protests by the local population (between 100 and 300 protesters), with barricades and slogans "Occupiers go home!" thus forcing the Marines to remain in the barracks. Natalia Vitrenko, leader of the Vitrenko bloc, announced that the Crimea has been occupied by the U.S. forces. Several days later, the Crimean parliament
Verkhovna Rada of Crimea
The Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is the 100-member unicameral parliament of the Ukrainian territory the Autonomous Republic of Crimea...
declared Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
a "NATO-free territory."
Diplomatic reaction
On June 5, 2006, Serhiy Yevtushenko, an advisor to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and director of the Institute of Euro-Atlantic Cooperation, was stopped at the Moscow airport and sent back to Ukraine. The following day, Russian Duma vice-speaker Vladimir ZhirinovskyVladimir Zhirinovsky
Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky is a Russian politician, colonel of the Russian Army, founder and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia , Vice-Chairman of the State Duma, and a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe....
and member Konstantin Zatulin
Konstantin Zatulin
Konstantin Fyodorovich Zatulin is a Russian politician, first deputy chairman of the committee of the State Duma for the CIS and relations with Russian nationals abroad.-Biography:...
were banned from entering Ukraine (were declared persona non grata
Persona non grata
Persona non grata , literally meaning "an unwelcome person", is a legal term used in diplomacy that indicates a proscription against a person entering the country...
) based on the Ukrainian law concerning foreigners’ status, "foreigners are prohibited to enter the country if they violated Ukrainian legislation during their previous stay." In the case of Zatulin, Ukrainian government accused him of trying to invoke ethnic violence and work against territorial integrity of the Ukrainian state. For example, Zhirinovskiy stated: “Ukraine does not exist. Russian governors must sit in Kiev and Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
. True Russian borders are the borders of September 1917.” The Russian Foreign Ministry denounced the ban as unfriendly.
(NATO) military maneuvers in Ukraine/Crimea since 2006
The 2006 Crimean anti-NATO protests did not impact foreign military units to participate in multinational military exercises in Ukraine. Various military exercises (including ones with NATO troops) where held in Crimea since 2006.External links
- Russia tells Ukraine to stay out of NATO - The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- Ukraine warned over Nato entry - Financial TimesFinancial TimesThe Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
- Tensions rise in Crimea over NATO - EuronewsEuroNewsEuronews is an international multilingual news television channel.It covers world news from what it claims to be a 'European' perspective.Criticisms are that the perspective is in fact that of the European Commission - a major and growing funder of Euronews....
- Anti-Nato protests threaten eastward expansion - The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
- Stratfor